Language allows us to understand the world around us and communicate our understanding to others. But what is “understanding” and is it possible that the belief that we understand reality is actually just an illusion?
To begin, let’s consider a time when language first started to emerge and let’s consider the process of communicating to others a concept that we recently became aware of. For this example I’ve chosen the concept of wind and what it would be like to communicate the idea to others.
When the wind blows it gives us a bodily sensation that we can observe. This observation suggests that we are surrounded by an invisible substance. Now at this point we have no idea as to what the substance is, but we are none the less excited by our new realization and we want to share it with others. In our brilliance we come up with the word - “wind,” and we use that word to communicate to others the experience of the sensation of blowing air. So when we feel air moving around us we look to others and say the word “wind.” At this point we still do not have any true idea as to what is actually taking place around us but over time the word eventually becomes associated with the specific body sensation and is adopted as common knowledge. In other words, the association between the word and the sensation becomes familiar and this familiarity gives us a sense of understanding.
Continuing on we eventually realize that the wind itself is simply a process and that the wind is actually made up of some unknown substance. For instance, we may begin to observe our own breathing and break down the breathing process into smaller and smaller parts of our understanding. First we may observe the movement of our chest and the sensation of something passing through the hairs in our nose which brings about the realization that we are surrounded by an invisible substance that is able to enter our body. Continuing on we recognize the unpleasant feeling associated with holding our breath and we realize that the substance is needed for our survival. At this point we give this new unknown substance a name of its own - ‘air.’ With this same process, we break up the world into smaller and smaller parts and over time we begin to understand our world. In this way, each new discovery starts out as an unknown phenomenon which is then given a name and over time each new phenomenon becomes familiar. Our familiarity in turn leads us to the belief that we understand the world around us.
With all of this in mind, consider the following:
- We are brought into an unknown world.
- We give each experience a label that we ourselves have created.
- Over time labels become associated with concepts or sensations.
- Associations become familiar the more they are used.
- Familiarity results in our belief that we understand the world around us.
It seems that understanding may actually be nothing more than familiarity. So what this suggests is that understanding is actually just an illusion created by the human mind in order to give us a sense of knowing something that is unknowable. However, we should consider that the world is actually a mystery, regardless of how far we break it down and to say that we understand something is simply indulging in a self-created illusion.
Though words are a great tool to help us communicate and share the experience of life, they can also show us that reality may just be a learned description which we all agree upon.
What are your thought? Are we just indulging in a self-created illusion that we call understanding? Please feel free to comment if you agree or disagree or wish to add something. I like conversations.
Image source:
http://diamantecenter.com/the-tyranny-of-language/
http://www.theeventchronicle.com/metaphysics/spiritual/top-20-articles-of-2015-for-spirituality/#