Language and Uncommon Sense

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LANGUAGE AND UNCOMMON SENSE

George G Clark, 20 November 2011

I have grey hair and am retired from making a living. These days my work involves

making the inner journeyby turning the mind around. Metaphorically this involves (a)

draining the muddy pool and exposing the hidden treasure; (b) letting the mud settle so

that clarity returns; and (c) reprogramming what passes for common sense. The end

point is to know the peace that passes all understanding.

But there is more to this work than merely cracking norms and shifting paradigms. It

involves more than just replacing one world view with another in a culturally relativistic

manner. All options are not equal.

We can imagine (a) a continuum of normal world views, and (b) various independent

abnormal world views that are beyond the continuum. But, when cultural trappings are

removed from the various ab-normal (spiritual) world views, they are the same there

is what Aldous Huxley famously called theperennial philosophy.

The perennial philosophy recognizes that Reality is other than what appears to our

culturally conditioned sense organs and brains. The idea is that IF you disengage from

your culturally given normal reality (which is but one of

many on the cultural continuum) THEN you will appreciate

the nature of the spiritual reality. This is the same for all

people who manage to strip away the cultural accumulations

by which they have been caught.

Language evolved late in human evolution. Arguably it

improved communication and the teaching of sophisticated

skills amongst competing tribes of hunter/ gatherers. It was

so successful that humanity quickly spread across the planet.

But this involved evolutionary emergence

rather than managerial predetermination.

There was no forward plan (at least

before there was consciousness of

consciousness). Variations of words and

concepts arose and some survived betterthan others. (see Box 1)

Language would have helped with

understanding cause and effectand thus

the idea ofagency. There would have been

practical questions about how and

philosophical questions about why. (see

Box 2). And the pattern of answers would have evolved through various stages of human

evolution (see Box 3)

Box 1: The Beginnings of Language.

Thought experiment try to guess what

some of the first nouns would have been.

Then have a go at the first verbs and then

the first sentences (Subject Verb Object)

Box 2: The Six Questions

My six good friends are with me now

Who, why, what, when, where and how

There are many

ways to climb the

mountain but

there is only one

summit.


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Box 3: Stages of Human Evolution

Pre-modern

(Traditional)

Modern Post modern

Magic and Myth Science and Truth Social constructivism

(anything goes)

Priest and King Technocrat & Businessman New age hippie

Language appeared a few seconds before midnight on the 24 hour clock of human

evolution. Language is new born. As an infant it has served us well. We made stone axes,

invented war and agriculture, and put a man on the moon. But language has some

serious limitations. But these can be overcome (see below).

There are causes and conditions for all the mental formations that appear in

consciousness and in the unconscious. The basic scaffolding is genetic (nature) but the

filling in is cultural (nurture). We are hard wired to learn a language but culture controls

which specific language we learn and thus our world view.

Different cultures have different languages. When we have a

word for a thing it exists. If there is no word for itthen it does

not exist.

Language does not offer names for things as they really are.

Things are cultural creations. Children have to be educated/

indoctrinated to carve up the world in socially acceptable ways.

Sexism, ageism, racism etc.

But, in this global age, we need to rethink our condition. We need to rise above parochial

xenophobia. We need to reconsider the concept of agency and the boundaries of

belonging. The good news is that we do not need to begin from scratch. We can put a

new spin on the perennial philosophy. Its longevity suggests an element of hard wiring.

(Have neurologists really found a God-spot in the brain?)

Cultures have shamans, seers and mystics. They go-between the people and their Gods.

They deal with the cause/effect links between the natural and the supernatural worlds.Magic and myth abound and sacrifices are made to placate the dangerous forces of

nature and the Gods. But, as we developed, black magic gave way to institutionalised

religion and then to science. In the post-modern era we have the existential nihilists.

(Whats itall about Alfie?) (See Box 3).

Often the priests are closely linked to the powerful, high status groups in developed

cultures. There is then a massive outpouring of mumbo jumbo and mellifluous spin. The

King/ Emperor/ Pope/ Parent Figure is in touch with the Divine and passes on His/ Her

messages to the lowly and obedient workers. But that is aberration.

Some individuals are called to the life of a hermit, recluse, or mystic. Some become

sages whose understandings are coopted by the power elites to serve their personal

ends. But that is aberration.

Eskimo language

has fourteen

words for snow

but none for

butterfly!


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Mystical loners from various times and places have been to the peak of the spiritual

mountain. By sitting quietly doing nothing they clear away

their cultural clutter. It becomes apparent that the reality

(world view) espoused by a particular culture and language

is not the real reality.

Language supposes boundaries that limit things. But there

is a type of knowing that lies beyond words and things. It

appreciates the interconnected Oneness which has no beginning or ending but is

nonetheless in a constant dance of creation and destruction.

Our infantile language did not evolve to talk of these mystical things but they can be

intuited. Those who recover the ability for supracultural intuition talk of freedom, of

enlightenment, of a release from bondage. They come to know a peace that passes all

rational understanding. The best they can do using baby language is to create poetry and

paradox. Here are some examples:

The reality that can be described is not the real reality.

Those who speak do not know

Those who know do not speak.

Form is Emptiness and Emptiness is Form

The impermanence of all created things.

Be still and know (Stillness Speaks)

When one sees Eternity in things that pass away and Infinity in finite things,

then one has pure knowledge.

A few men in all times have longed for Eternity and have attained Eternity,

but only a few.

When the light seen by a few becomes the light of the many,

then man will be able to fulfil himself on this earth.

What has been a Light for a few shall be in time a Light for All.

We are such stuff as dreams are made on:

and our little life is rounded with a sleep

SO:

IF I am to urgently make the inner journey and turn my mind around to find peace,

THEN I had best get on with the work of reprogramming my common sense.

OM.

Round and round

and round in the

circle game

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Language and Uncommon Sense