A World Without Worlds Reaction

"A World Without Words" was eye-opening to me, which was its intention; to bring to light the importance of language, not only in communication, but in the very way our brains function. As humans, we tend to associate words with being exclusively useful outside of our bodies. It is generally thought that they are merely the vehicle for us to convey our thoughts, experiences, stories and needs to those around as opposed to actually being integral to our very being. I had never before thought about the way that I define myself, I simply am. It is a new concept to me that the way I define myself is completely dependent upon my ability to put words to those definitions.

Taylor's description of her experience of existing without words, being completely in the present without any commentary and without any relativity to the world around her, reminded of something we discussed last year; does language define culture rather then the other way around? We might say "the U.S. speaks mostly English and France speaks mostly French and Mexico speaks mostly Spanish, therefore those languages must be a product of the culture that they're used in, right?" But what if the very culture, and the ability of the people within the culture to progress as conscious beings, was entirely dependent on their ability to find words in which to define that culture? That concept is a lot harder to wrap our brains around, which is why we don't often think about the importance of words in such a general capacity. It is also a little frightening to think that, despite how much we try to organize ourselves and the world around us, through religion, family structure and many other ways, we are nothing without a language to organize our very thoughts with. I can take in with my senses an entire lifetime, but without words to file those memories away, I only have the ability to experience that moment in the very utmost present. My life would be just a ton of immeasurably small amounts of time that are meaningless to each other. Woah. 

On the other hand, another thing that struck me was just how profound mental silence can be, which instills in me a renewed interest in learning to truly meditate. 

Overall it seemed like the collective exigence of the commentators and Taylor was to change the way their audience perceives something that we take for granted; words. Through story telling, Taylor is intriguing to the listeners and is able to convince them to absorb what she is saying about language.