Present
Interests
As
in the past, I enjoy nature, and I also enjoy and appreciate
culture, art, music, science (especially holistic science),
and philosophy in its original meaning as the love of wisdom.
And I enjoy and appreciate silence – the source out of which
everything arises.
Process Language
- I have become very interested
in language, especially language
structure and logic because they fundamentally influence our
perception of the world, and our perception in turn
influences our actions. Most modern languages have a
noun-verb structure. Nouns (and pronouns) refer to things,
persons, that is, entities, and verbs to processes.
Entities appear primary, processes that occur within or
between them secondary. Thus, this kind of language
structure reflects and reinforces a worldview according to
which the world consists of separate things, persons,
entities, objects: you and I appear separate, the trees
appear separate from one another and us, the good appears
separate from evil, etc. Hence, this language structure
reinforces a worldview and experience of alienation.
However, holistic
science as well
as personal experience such as mystical experience of
oneness portray the world as basically whole and one.
David Bohm referred to undivided wholeness. Since this undivided wholeness is
dynamic, Bohm referred to holomovement,
Heraclitus to pantha rei, which means that everything flows,
everything changes. On this view, process appears primary,
and entities are seen as abstractions from the process. The
question then arises: can we develop a language that reflects
the fluidity of manifest reality? In other words, can we
develop a process
language? Since process
is represented by the verb, we would want a language in which
the verb, not the noun or pronoun, plays the primary
role. In his book Fragmentation and Wholeness
(1976), David Bohm (see
Quotes from
Holistic Scientists # 9-15) made an attempt to construct
rudiments of such a language, which he called the
rheomode. I am not aware of further developments in this
respect, and so far I have not been able to construct a
purely verb-based language that satisfies the linguists I
consulted. However, I have learned that at least some
Amerindian languages are much more verb-based than English
(see, e.g., Dan Moonhawk Alford, and J.B. Carroll: Language, Thought, and Reality.
Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf.
Technology Press of MIT and
Wiley, New York). I have also learned that instead of
saying “I love you” (subject-verb-object), a Japanese
would simply say “Aishiteru”, which means “loving”: the
activity, the process of loving. On this view, lover and
beloved, subject and object, are seen as abstractions from
this process ( J.-E. Berendt: The World is Sound. Nada
Brahma. Destiny
Books, Rochester, Vermont, 1991, p. 46). I think that if
we begin with such changes in language structure and then
extend them to more and more situations, we might be able
to overcome much alienation, which would lead to a more
harmonious and peaceful world.
Korzybski -
I am
also profoundly interested in Korzybski’s ideas that he
presented in his book Science and
Sanity (see
Korzybski Quotes
and
Healing
Thinking through Non-Identity
(Korzybski)).
He
pointed out the inadequacy and often negative psycho-logical
consequences of ‘is’-statements that imply identity (A is B).
We often make such statements, which distorts our perception
and may lead to more or less troublesome or insane reactions.
For example, saying that Fred is
dishonest identifies Fred
with dishonesty. Fred is, however, also honest (if only at
times), insecure, fearful, handsome, talkative, charming,
etc. Furthermore, Fred changes. For example, Fred in the
context of October 22, 2009 was not the same as Fred at
another time. Therefore, referring simply to Fred is an
oversimplification that could have disastrous consequences
because it may omit highly relevant contextual information.
For example, it may omit the fact that he felt sick at the
time when he behaved inappropriately. Finally, Fred does not
exist in isolation but as an integral part of his
environment. Thus, instead of saying Fred is
dishonest, it seems more
appropriate to say Fred-October
22, 2009-environment was dishonest,
etc. This
formulation, although more cumbersome, if not awkward,
conveys much better what was going on and leads to saner
psycho-logical reactions.
Using Korzybski’s more appropriate language, or at least
keeping in mind this language while using more ordinary
language, requires intensive training because we have been
deeply conditioned by ordinary language and its metaphysical
implications that lead to a distorted worldview and more or
less insane behavior. Part of this training implies learning
to pause before we speak. Instead of immediately verbalizing
when we encounter a situation, Korzybski suggests to first
pause, sense, intuit, visualize, and only then verbalize
because through immediate verbalization we miss much of the
situation. And we have to keep in mind that
“Whatever
you might
say
something “is”,
it is not” (Korzybski, A.
1958. Science and Sanity, p. 35). The word is not the thing
and the map is not the territory. Hence, to come closer to
reality, we have to be silent. However, when we have to or
want to speak, it would be highly desirable to use a language
and logic that does not lead to or reinforce insanity.
Healthy Thinking, Healing
Thinking - This brings
me to a related topic that has become very important to me:
healing at individual, social, and global levels. In Chapter
2 (Either/Or Thinking and
Beyond) of my
book Wilber’s
AQAL Map and Beyond, I pointed out already how Aristotelian
either/or logic, the logic we usually use, can create deep
wounds and conflicts that could be healed or prevented if
we used other kinds of logic such as both/and logic
and fuzzy logic. Subsequently, I
published a book manuscript entitled Healing Thinking and
Being,
in which I explore in more depth and detail healing kinds
of logic such as fuzzy
logic,
both/and logic, Yin-Yang thinking, Buddhist logic and Jain
logic, and I point
out their importance for healing of our planet, society, and
us. This book manucript also relates to the
AQAL map by
Ken Wilber and
his integral vision.
Although healing kinds of logic could provide a saner world,
ultimately logic and thinking cannot reveal
the unnamable mystery
of Being. Various
kinds of meditation, including Qigong, Taiji (Tai Chi),
dancing and laughing meditation such as laughter
yoga,
and a general awareness
of the unnamable mystery can help us transcend the limitations of
the thinking mind (see also Mystic Quotes and Beyond
Thinking, Writing, and Speaking - the
Unnamable).
I am working on a book entitled Materialism,
Holism, and Mysticism - A Mandala. So far only the Introduction and Lessons from the 20th Century for the 21st
Century have been
published on this website.