If we hadn't developed language, we wouldn't be reading these books........

The concept of language is one I really never gave much thought. I take it for granted that language exists, and just kind of assume it always has. Sure, language has evolved. If you're tried to read Shakespeare or Milton you realize how differently we structure the English language nowadays, and how we've invented a myriad of new words. I never really thought about how much of an impact language has had on our civilization. Without the spoken word, and more importantly the written word, "civilization" would likely have remained fairly stagnant. It would be very difficult to advance without knowing the past, so we can avoid making the same mistakes that have already been made. With language, we are able to pass on our knowledge to the next generation so they can learn from our mistakes, and take what we've learned and build upon it. Pearce states that "Language plays the dominant role in the shaping of our world view and world-to-view.....language is far more than communication" (135). Language is something uniquely human. Animals do not use symbols to communicate like humans do. This use of symbols for expression allows us to be creative. At the same time, however, this can be limiting. Pearce quotes Langer who states, "The activity of imaging reality is the center of experience.....The average man, though, picks up his symbols for imagingin from 'those' that know". Pearce goes on to say "He may never analytically understand the workings of the various disciplines that shape his time.......He does not contemplate serious matters often" (138). Man receives his power to shape the world from what he's been taught by those that went before, yet at the same time is limited by that same knowledge. Some of the "good stuff" may be left out, glossed over or miscontsrued. Man's curiosity isn't piqued and he just falls in line with what society dictates.

I think that the other piece in the Pearce chapters that was interesting was the idea that our God is really an outward projection of an inner state. On page 141 he references Jung's thoughts on God: "Jung considered the God-image a complex of ideas..........as something 'out there' and absolutely-other when it is really an inward condition that is unconscious". He also quotes Jung as saying that the "weight of history is unbearable without the idea of God." I don't buy into the idea that God is simply a creation of man to help us deal with our day to day life, but it's an interesting thought.

Lastly, my favorite quote: "The neurotic is the 'artist manque', the creative who cannot transmute his or her conflicts into art." That's me!!!!