Grateful that concerns of the world don't keep you from this type of reflection. Please try to maintain the personal freedom for it because it is important.
I have always assumed that words have intrinsic powers beyond the definitions we assign, and also beyond the somewhat obvious impact of soothing vs. harsh sounds or the appeal of onomatopoeia for rhetorical effect.
Learning languages very different from mine, I believe that the sounds operate on me, not just intellectually, but in a wholistic way, building and deepening me in ways I cannot understand. It is an article of faith. Currently, in my Chinese studies, I use a wide variety of learning methods and try not to think about why any one of them helps me. Further, I doubt the power of one, two or three of the methods to do the job without the others.
Precisely because I don't understand the ways of words, the dance they play with my brain, the call and response of meaning shot out by another as I reinterpret and respond, I try to let language get to me through many channels.
When trying to call a word to mind that I have heard in Chinese, perhaps having heard it defined once or twice, but not yet having memorized, I often scan a mushier part of my brain for the sound and try to bypass all the logical methods for knowing or remembering it. I will tentatively mumble zhe, shi, que..... and am surprised at how the sound itself has hooked itself into my memory. No linguistics, not etymology, no homonyms, just the power of sound.
"Words call to one another, following to a logic that is not ours, helping us to see the world in ways that we otherwise could not." Why would our efforts to grok lots of strange or familiar words in new ways be any different than eating many kinds of food. By the way, fruits and vegetables, all colors, Fewer refined carbs.
____________
Since you opened the door to art and mysticism in this entry, here is one of my favorites from San Juan de la Cruz. The words and their sounds in the original Spanish operate on on a dimension beyond their definitions in a way I hesitate to chalk off to good rhyming skills. The words call out to each other, and to us. At the same time, San Juan’s verses are all about the limitations of words, but that’s half the fun.
What comes to my mind are the series of books about the adventures of Thursday Next, a “literary detective” by author Jasper Fforde. These books are fantasies. For example, in the first book, “The Eyre Affair”, Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the book “Jane Eyre”. It took Fforde a while to get it published...He was undoubtedly lucky to have family and status that helped support his interests. He is no van Gogh, but still has talent. I found it fun to follow Thursday Next as she was able to avoid the dangers of “dangling participles”, for example, which in her world as a literary detective meant life or death. Anyway, I marvel at Fforde’s imagination which I sadly don’t have. Luckily, both of my children have well-developed right and left brains. I don’t know that I would want all that brain-power responsibility which is why I settled for an easier path in my lifetime. Well, maybe not. Lately, as an older person with a lot of history behind me, I feel much more responsible, not sure of the word, really, maybe that’s the right one, “responsible” for the future. One thing I do know is that my very broad liberal arts background combined with some science that I had to learn and had to work hard to continually catch up has perhaps finally matured.
Thank-you for reminding us creativity, wonder and joy are more than necessary parts of our everyday lives. It’s much appreciated...
Grateful that concerns of the world don't keep you from this type of reflection. Please try to maintain the personal freedom for it because it is important.
I have always assumed that words have intrinsic powers beyond the definitions we assign, and also beyond the somewhat obvious impact of soothing vs. harsh sounds or the appeal of onomatopoeia for rhetorical effect.
Learning languages very different from mine, I believe that the sounds operate on me, not just intellectually, but in a wholistic way, building and deepening me in ways I cannot understand. It is an article of faith. Currently, in my Chinese studies, I use a wide variety of learning methods and try not to think about why any one of them helps me. Further, I doubt the power of one, two or three of the methods to do the job without the others.
Precisely because I don't understand the ways of words, the dance they play with my brain, the call and response of meaning shot out by another as I reinterpret and respond, I try to let language get to me through many channels.
When trying to call a word to mind that I have heard in Chinese, perhaps having heard it defined once or twice, but not yet having memorized, I often scan a mushier part of my brain for the sound and try to bypass all the logical methods for knowing or remembering it. I will tentatively mumble zhe, shi, que..... and am surprised at how the sound itself has hooked itself into my memory. No linguistics, not etymology, no homonyms, just the power of sound.
"Words call to one another, following to a logic that is not ours, helping us to see the world in ways that we otherwise could not." Why would our efforts to grok lots of strange or familiar words in new ways be any different than eating many kinds of food. By the way, fruits and vegetables, all colors, Fewer refined carbs.
____________
Since you opened the door to art and mysticism in this entry, here is one of my favorites from San Juan de la Cruz. The words and their sounds in the original Spanish operate on on a dimension beyond their definitions in a way I hesitate to chalk off to good rhyming skills. The words call out to each other, and to us. At the same time, San Juan’s verses are all about the limitations of words, but that’s half the fun.
To hear the sounds go to one minute and 20 seconds in this audio clip. https://albalearning.com/S0NID0/sjuan/020w8765/albalearning-entreme_sjuan.mp3
Coplas hechas sobre un éxtasis de harta contemplación
Entréme donde no supe
y quedéme no sabiendo,
toda ciencia tracendiendo.
I
Yo no supe dónde entraba,
pero cuando allí me vi
sin saver dónde me estaba
grandes cosas entendí
no diré lo que sentí
que me quedé no sabiendo
toda sciencia trascendiendo.
II
De paz y de piedad
era la sciencia perfecta,
en profunda soledad
entendida vía recta
era cosa tan secreta
que me quedé balbuciendo
toda sciencia trascendiendo.
III
Estava tan embebido
tan absorto y ajenado
que se quedó mi sentido
de todo sentir privado
y el espíritu dotado
de un entender no entendiendo
toda sciencia tracendiendo.
IV
El que allí llega de vero
de sí mismo desfallesce
quanto sabía primero
mucho baxo le paresce
y su sciencia tanto cresce
que se queda no sabiendo,
toda sciencia tracendiendo.
V
Cuanto más alto se suve
tanto menos se entendía
que es la tenebrosa nuve
que a la noche esclarecía
por eso quien la sabía
queda siempre no sabiendo,
toda sciencia tracendiendo.
VI
Este saber no sabiendo
es de tan alto poder
que los sabios arguyendo
jamás le pueden vencer
que no llega su saber
a no entender entendiendo
toda sciencia tracendiendo.
VII
Y es de tan alta excelencia
aqueste summo saber,
que no ay facultad ni sciencia
que la puedan emprender
quien se supiere vencer
con un no saber sabiendo,
yrá siempre tracendiendo.
VIII
Y si lo queréis oýr
consiste esta summa sciencia
en un subido sentir
de la dibinal esencia
es obra de su clemencia
hazer quedar no entendiendo
toda sciencia tracendiendo.
There are many good English translations; Edgar Allison Peers did a wonderful job but here is one I had never seen and enjoy.
I Went In, I Knew Not Where
I went in, I knew not where
and stayed, not knowing, but going
past the boundaries of knowing.
I knew not the place around me,
how I came there or where from,
but seeing where then I found me,
I sensed great things, and grew dumb—
since no words for them would come—
lacking all knowledge, but going
past the boundaries of knowing.
Of piety and of peace
I had perfect comprehension;
solitude without surcease
showed the straight way, whose intention—
too secret for me to mention—
left me stammering, but going
past the boundaries of knowing.
So wholly rapt, so astonished
was I, from myself divided,
that my very senses vanished
and left me there unprovided
with knowledge, my spirit guided
by learning unlearned, and going
past the boundaries of knowing.
He who reaches that place truly
wills himself from self to perish;
all he lately knew, seen newly,
seems trifles unfit to cherish;
his new knowledge grows to flourish
so that he lingers there, going
past the boundaries of knowing.
The higher up one is lifted,
the less one perceives by sight
how the darkest cloud has drifted
to elucidate the night;
He who knows the dark aright
endures forever, by going
past the boundaries of knowing.
This wisdom, wise by unknowing,
wields a power so complete
that the learnèd wise men throwing
wisdom against it compete
with a force none can defeat,
since their wisdom makes no showing
past the boundaries of knowing.
There is virtue so commanding
in this high knowledge that wit,
human skill and understanding
cannot hope to rival it
in one who knows how to pit
against self his selfless going
past the boundaries of knowing.
And if you should care to learn
what this mode of being wise is,
it is yearnings that discern
the Divine in all its guises,
whose merciful gift and prize is
to confound all knowledge, going
past the boundaries of knowing.
(Coplas: “Entreme donde no supe,” St. John of the Cross,
Spain, 1542-1591; tr. Rhina P. Espaillat)
What comes to my mind are the series of books about the adventures of Thursday Next, a “literary detective” by author Jasper Fforde. These books are fantasies. For example, in the first book, “The Eyre Affair”, Thursday Next pursues a master criminal through the book “Jane Eyre”. It took Fforde a while to get it published...He was undoubtedly lucky to have family and status that helped support his interests. He is no van Gogh, but still has talent. I found it fun to follow Thursday Next as she was able to avoid the dangers of “dangling participles”, for example, which in her world as a literary detective meant life or death. Anyway, I marvel at Fforde’s imagination which I sadly don’t have. Luckily, both of my children have well-developed right and left brains. I don’t know that I would want all that brain-power responsibility which is why I settled for an easier path in my lifetime. Well, maybe not. Lately, as an older person with a lot of history behind me, I feel much more responsible, not sure of the word, really, maybe that’s the right one, “responsible” for the future. One thing I do know is that my very broad liberal arts background combined with some science that I had to learn and had to work hard to continually catch up has perhaps finally matured.