People are remarkable creatures. Liberated from walking using arms and hands thanks to our bipedal gait, we’ve used them to successfully manipulate matter, from lighting fire to assembling spacecrafts. We play music, dance and create drawings and paintings. For better or worse we’ve mastered chemistry, biology and physics and used them to transform the natural world.
All this has been possible due to our not so secret power, namely language. When and how we acquired language is unknown. Whether inherent or emergent, it’s clearly related to the complexity of our cognition combined with the evolution of physical structures that enable speech. But there’s more.
Many animals make sounds and some of those may refer to specific things or situations, but as far as we know, people are the only animals that are metaphor makers. Metaphor is the use of language to infer an equivalence between two otherwise unrelated subjects. In doing so, the meaning and power of one subject is transferred to another.
Human language itself is metaphorical; a sound or group of sounds signifies subjects and objects which can then be used, transformed and arranged to convey things entirely novel. In this way language is the mother of invention.
Language is so powerful it can effectively convey both truths and falsehoods, a situation we have yet to resolve. Science attempts to sort things out based on the empirical results of experiments, but the stories we tell that are not true persist nonetheless. Our not so secret power can be and is used in evil ways to manipulate and control. The converse is also possible. Language and metaphor can be used to elevate humanity in positive ways.
This leaves each of us with picking and choosing which metaphors to embrace into our belief systems. To do so requires reliance upon value structures built upon ethics and the consideration of right and wrong. Unfortunately, this is dependent upon what we have been told or have read, both operations of language. We are forced to rely upon the instruments of metaphor to choose which metaphors to adopt for guidance. No wonder the arguments never cease.
How to distinguish between opinion and truth? It’s obviously quite difficult. Confirmation bias inclines us to accept opinions that match our preexisting views, creating an echo chamber of opinion. Peer pressure and seeking social acceptance contribute to our process.
One method is to abandon language as best one can and connect instead with what we feel. Meditation techniques including the observation of thought itself, focus on the breath, awareness of feelings, visualization, yoga, or even chanting can provide insight and realizations that circumvent the pitfalls of language-based conceptual thought. It’s possible to relax into the real.
Intuition has a role here; some things just don’t feel right, no matter what we’re told. Intuition is an ancient and valuable survival skill that senses what’s real at a pre-linguistic level. When our thinking habit is interrupted, intuition can emerge and it’s worth paying attention to it. Sometimes it’s even a matter of life and death.
The bottom line is to be mindful about what you say, to consider the underlying emotional motivation and intent and examine what you hear in the same way. Remember: our not so secret power is a double edged sword that cuts both ways.
