Language Creates Reality

I've been wanting to write about this topic for a week after hearing the idea mentioned in Terence McKenna's book Food of the Gods, but I wanted to do some more reading about it first. Food of the Gods is very interesting as well and I plan on going into other ideas about it soon enough. These ideas about language, though, have been floating around me lately, so I wanted to dive into them.

In his book, McKenna was making a point about our reality, that is to say, the reality that one experiences everyday that is unique to each individual. How can "reality" be unique to each individual? Isn't it the same "place" for everyone? The answers to these questions lie in the language one uses to describe their reality. In the world today, there are over 6,500 different languages being spoken, although about 2000 of them have less that 1,000 speakers. That still means more than 4,500 languages are used in the world by a lot of people. (Check out http://www.linguisticsociety.org for more interesting facts about languages and language development) Ferdinand de Saussure, a linguist and structuralist, pointed out that if words were "natural" instead of "cultural" everyone would just speak the same language as everyone else. There would be no reason to have different languages. But that's not true, is it? We don't have a "natural" language. We have tons of different language. Let's get into that.

Because how we speak and communicate changes the way we view and experience our world and reality, we can say that there are at least 6,500 different realities happening on earth right now. That's kind of crazy to consider. Different cultures have different languages to express the reality they are living or their views on the world and how they want to live in it. Some languages won't have certain words for things that just don't exist within their reality. Why would a tribe in the Amazon need a word or term for "stock market"? I am making assumptions here, but this idea of the "stock market" probably doesn't exist for them. They don't need it. It doesn't exists in their reality. To them, it isn't necessary to the way they live or see the world. There's no concept behind it, thus no word or phrase, thus it doesn't exist. The Piraha people in Brazil have no concept of time beyond the present. The concept of the past or future doesn't even exist in their reality. The only thing of importance that is worth communicating to others in their culture is what is being experienced at the very moment. Their culture created a language that reflects their morals and values, and thus, their reality is shaped by the language. They have a different reality from ours.

Isn't it?

We (speaking of American now) can/must worry about the future and the past. We can/must worry about all the diseases we might have that are played in tons of commercials. We can/must worry about space and the cosmos and if an asteroid is going to kill us someday. We can worry about all these things because our language and educational allow us to do so. Our language in actually very concerned with time. In research done by the Anderson Institute, an organization concerned with time and time research, America is one of the fastest-paced countries in the the world. Japan was the fastest. They decided these rankings based on walking speed, working speed, and accuracy of clocks. According to the Anderson Institute's web site:

"As time goes on, slower-paced countries and cultures are harder and harder to find. Unlike America and the Western European countries mentioned above, 'Being late to an appointment, or taking a long time to get down to business, is the accepted norm in most Mediterranean and Arab countries' (Devereaux and Johanson). Latin American countries and Native American countries are also known to have a slower paced lifestyle, partially due to the fact that much of their lifestyle is controlled by the past, whereas fast-paced countries like America are constantly rushing into the future."

This lifestyle choice is based on the language we use. We are often told in our culture not to dwell on the past. This is usually for good reason. It makes sense to move forward past uncomfortable or sad things and situations, but that is a cultural choice. Because of this, though, the pace of our lives are fast and often unrelenting. Older adults often remark on how fast their lives went. I feel this all the time. I get up, get stuff done, shower quick, eat quick, work fast all day, come home, get home stuff done, do more work, prep for the next day, go to bed, start again. This type of day is held up by our cultural values, though. The industrialist mentality would see this day as a success. I got a lot of "things" done. But is that really how we should measure a successful day? By how much of my checklist I completed? I won't lie and say it doesn't feel good to take things and tasks off of it, but there will always be something to replace it. Always. Think about what we say to each other when we get home. We ask, "How was your day?", or "What did you do today?" These are questions about the past, but what we are really asking is, "What did you get done today?" What if we asked, "How are you right now?" or "What do you feel like doing right now?" I'm not saying this is a better way of thinking, just different.

One of Wayne White's many great works of art

I can see how some people get upset at the idea of needing to learn a new language, or some people get way too upset about others not learning English. Forcing someone to learn a new language is forcing them to learn a new way of seeing reality, even if the differences are small. Here's a question, though, that I might need to research: Are some languages better than others for learning and discussing math, science, literature, art, etc.? Not the language that is used most because of the numbers of people using it, but the best for conceptualizing these subjects and understanding them. I found an article on Slate.com explaining that English is the best language for science, but the reasoning was because there are more scientists coming from English speaking areas than others. That doesn't mean its a better language for understanding it. A different article from the Wall Street Journal, though, explained how other languages, like Chinese, are better for learning math at a younger age because of the simplicity in which the language represents and conveys numbers. Chinese has less words for numbers and it all works as a base-ten numbers system.

When it comes to education, the idea that language creates reality has some implications for teaching. In thinking on this idea, I now realize how important, or at least not trivial, learning vocabulary can be. I often move through vocabulary quickly. I don't want to have a vocabulary test or use crossword puzzles, etc. But, as I think about it, when I am introducing and teaching new vocabulary to students I am altering their reality. Maybe not in a huge way, but in some way. If they don't know how printmaking, glassblowing, or ceramic processes work, when I introduce them to these words and ideas, I am introducing a new concept into their reality. I feel I should put more weight into these exercises and activities now, considering their real importance.

As an art teacher, I am also often showing students images to go with our concepts and projects of art processes and artworks. I think of it often as needing to fill their mental image banks, but I don't believe that's how I should think of it. Lately I've been using different ways of introducing lessons and looking at images. These activities actually back up my new way of thinking. I now often give a small group of kids one image of an artwork and have them break it down instead of showing the whole class 15-20 examples of artwork in a short period of time and having me talk about them. In this way, they can spend more time with that artwork and concept, allowing them more time to understand it.

If language creates our reality and different language can change our reality, can an image do the same? I'm sure there are tons of examples of people seeing an image and having it change them. I remember very distinctly sitting in the hallway in 1st grade and looking at The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali. We broke down each component and discussed the ideas and what they could mean. Thinking on it now, it probably changed the course my life. I love surrealism and teach it all then time. That image, after really getting into it and breaking it down, had a profound effect on my life, changing my reality.

My last thoughts are on how we can use this information to help our daily lives. We have all heard things about thinking positively and to think about how we say things, etc. I always believed this was an energy idea. Thinking and saying things in a  positive or constructive way changed your energy for the better. That could still be very true, but I now also believe that maybe we can alter or change our reality by using different language. Positive mantras and word choices might help flip a day around. Instead of discussing the kids who were screwing around in class when I get home, I should talk about the awesome things they did. Not only will it feel better energy-wise, but my reality of the day will be different after doing so. We see athletes all the time talking to themselves or "chattering" positive and encouraging things. Teams that are losing or about to lose are quiet. I think we can use language as a way not only to create reality, but make it better for ourselves. Now I just need to put my ideas into practice.