Theos-Talk Archives (September 1996 Message tl00087)

At 09:04 PM 04/09/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Bee, you quote something that has fascinated me for a while, & I haven't
>known where to look it up.
>
>>As I understand it, much psychic
>>difficulty could stem from our lack of understanding of the symbols (words)
>>we use to describe our own experiences. Every thing is a personal experience
>>within each one of us and we use agreed upon symbols to express these
>>experiences to each other. Unfortunately most of us abstract from an
>>original experience of something, in a sloppy way and end up using symbols
>>that Korsybski calls noises because they have wandered out of the path of
>>abstraction of the reality of the experience and into wishful thinking,
>>emotional desires etc.
>
>I've often wondered how we communicate beyond words, and how words limit
>what we can communicate, while at the same time being our most often used
>communicator.
>We can use the arts. Actually, I wonder whether we can express more
>completely and accurately than in words. I'm thinking of dreams, which are a
>form of communicating. Try to put a dream into words. While you're
>describing 1 part the other part disappears from your grasp. An impression
>wells up from within, and it's very difficult to express exactly what you
>perceive. Your man says that we perceive something, & right away we see it
>through our own individual skewed lens. That's true too. It's a fascinating
>subject. Did you find it written up somewhere?
>
>Liesel
>
Yes, I am reading the book by Alfred Korzybski called Science and Sanity
which he wrote in 1933. He seems to be the father of the Institute of
General Semantics in Concord. I have had a quick glimpse at their web page.
I feel that I have learned to look at the world in a different way since
trying to understand what he and Vitvan are saying. It all seems so simple
but to explain it is not. I definitely need more exposure to the system
before I can get a real handle on it. I get stumped when it gets quite
scientific in places and especially when Vitvan gets into embroyology in his
Cosmology. As I read somewhere deep in the brain a feeling of understanding
wafts by but as soon as I try to figure out what it was I seemed to
understand, it all goes blank. Very frustrating. I just hope that what ever
it was, it found a place to lodge for future use. It all points to an
open-ended and relativistic way of functioning. I get the distinct
impression that the words we use are more important than we think, to our
overall wellbeing and peace of mind. I can feel some changes happening and
they are for the better and I try to follow the ideas I have learned about
leaving certain little words out of my vocabulary and that isn't easy and I
find myself just about to use it and then I stand there with my mouth open
and nothing comes out. Hilarious really. Hope you enjoy the disk I sent of
some of Vitvan's writings.
Have fun.

>
Bee Brown
Member Theosophy NZ, TI.

Logic is a systematic method of coming to
the wrong conclusion with confidence.