Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Follow No Priest, Talking Never Cease


As I write and delve into my own philosophical inquires of the unknown, I post them here, on this internet shrine to the pursuit of knowledge and illumination, in the hopes that one day a fellow traveler on the road betwixt this world and the next might read them. I ask not for devotees, nor servants, nor slaves. I ask for traveling companions. I ask for questions along with answers, and new perspectives and angles.

Dogma and Doctrine leaves no room for thought, and thought is the very essence of creation. Have you ever noticed that when you are having a conversation about philosophy, and all participants are sharing and learning together, your mind seems to feel different? I have thought for many moons about why this occurs, and I believe I have the answer.

Thought is the purest form of Ideas. In our mind things seem so clear, yet when we try to translate these ideas into symbols(words, pictures) we find it hard to achieve the same level of clarity we had in our minds. Go ahead and write down what your room looks like, trying to paint the most exact picture possible. Doesn't seem as good as your own mental image, does it?

Now, conversation is merely two entities making noises, vibrating their vocal cords in ways they each understand. Our speech is no different then the barking of dogs, the purrs of cats, or the squeaks of bats. Though this method is simple, it is the closest to translating our thoughts directly as we can get. When you talk, you aren't thinking about what your saying, your just saying it, as if your mind is freely flowing from your mouth.

And with speech, do we not empathize with our brethren better? Hand movements, facial expressions, tone, and body posture all say so much without uttering a word. Our animal kin can relate their attitude and feeling to any other creature with no more then a single growl.

To stifle the free flow of ideas is to imprison the mind within its own body, turning the two forces against each other. Schools know this, and bar talking in class, to keep the student mind in a sleepy haze of numbers and dates. But why not let a class talk of the afterlife, or the nature of reality, or who they really are?

Why?

No comments: