Jan 15th, 2009
Into the Sea You Qo
We are not here to discuss the limitations of languages, however. Besides the truth, there are everyday experiences that often will not lend themselves to language. When we come across new experiences, we want to quantify and understand the experience; however, understanding an experience is the same as organizing the experience into words. When you say things like, “I don’t understand what I went through . . .” or “I just have no idea . . .” you actually mean that you cannot find the words to describe your experiences. As our society becomes increasingly complicated and intricate, our experiences become more diverse, making it more difficult to put some realities into words.
Therefore, in an effort to quantify and put into language these experiences that we are constantly creating, we are inventing more words and terms and advancing the technology of informational processing to dizzying heights. Today, we have managed to quantify any and every word into binary bits, expressed in zeroes and ones. In this fashion, words become digitized signals and control machinery and computers.
Not only words, but light and sound can be transmitted in bits. CD players and digital cameras are prime examples of such technology. These advances, so often called the “Digital Revolution,” are designed to make language more elaborate and sophisticated so that it can express our experiences more accurately. This process is akin to crowding tiny dots ever closer together so that they resemble a steady and consistent line.
Unfortunately, this is a game that we are destined to lose. We could apply all the latest technology and skills in the world but we still wouldn’t be able to completely connect the space between two dots. Imagine two dots. Imagine the space in between. Draw a line that connects the two by crowding a straight path between the dots with tiny dots that will coalesce to look like a line. Then magnify the image. Are they completely connected or is there an empty space between the dot and the line and within the line itself?