Words, words
Education for the Future | Personal Journal & Field Experience |Aug 19, 2008 | 1 hour field work
The 14 month old and I went to Seattle's Gas Works Park for our daily
outing. It was mighty windy so we spent time in a part of the park we
don't normally visit. The 14 month old ambled along the shadowy side of
the hill that marks this park. As he did so, he was very quiet. His
quiet mode is become rarer these days as he practices his pre-verbal
routines all day long. Except, he is always quiet when outdoors. He
seems to speak only when he is engaging with people or interacting with
the man-made world. I wonder if he has associated language with things
man-made and reserved silence and non-verbal presence for all things
natural?. That would be so appropriate — language is man-made. If so,
does he see man as also being man-made and so separate from the rest of
nature? Hmmm ….
I have connected these thoughts to my
re-read of Ishmael in which Ishmael states so clearly the power of
being 'named' and so becoming 'someone' as opposed to being 'noone'
when he did not have a name. It had made me realize how so much of our
thinking is language driven. Given that our thinking is language driven
and that we, or 'I' is just another thought, the notion of the 'self'
of being 'someone' is also tied to language. Our language creates the
notion of self and also reinforces it.
How might this be
connecting in the deeper and largely non-verbal conscious of the 14
month old? Since he is always quiet when outdoors does he see more of
nature as it 'is' and not what it is 'named'? Come to think of it, I
too am always more quiet when outdoors with the rest of nature. I am
more non-verbal and so I notice more of what 'is'. Could I do this when
indoors as well? When I am with people as well? Could the constant
chatter in my head that is full of words cease?
Language,
thought, ego, feeling separate from the rest of the world, isolation
are all connected and they start somewhere deep within us, when we are
little. Language is definitely a big force in this connection.
So, I have decided to stop naming things for the 14 month old. I will
choose to name only when the words serve a functional purpose — like,
''would you like water" and not when they don't like when I say, ''see
a duck". I want to create the space in which he can see the duck for
what it is, not what it is named. Perhaps, I too will then see the duck
for what it is. Maybe, I too have a shot at being 14 months old again.