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The Supremacy of language, heaven, god, and society

Animated 3D TCT of Human Breast

Animated 3D TCT of Human Breast (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Supremacy of Language

“Language defines reality. Language organizes reality. Language interprets reality.”

First, language is not really supreme in an absolute way. It is only supreme over certain factors of human attention, perception, and behavior, but that can be quite important.

Language only organizes human activity. However, for humans living in groups (even small groups of hunter-gatherers), the organizing of human cooperation through language can be a topic of tremendous practical value.

Effective communication is essential most modern forms of economic activity, especially in the training and organizing of “human resources.” Consider the frequency of married couples reporting instances of misinterpretation or miscommunication or “communication barriers.”  

Communication

Communication (Photo credit: P Shanks)

However, language does not cause a mustard tree to change in to an apple tree. Language by itself does not splice a branch from one trunk on to another trunk of another tree. Language itself does not literally stop the rotation of the earth on its axis or cause time to suddenly go backwards. However, language can certainly reference such possibilities.

Language is itself an extension of the rest of the universe: astrophysics, ecology, biology, neuro-chemistry and socio-economics. Newborn humans do not have it. Infants start to develop it.

 

So, within the realm of human society, there are matters over which language is supreme. The supremacy of language is relative, not absolute.

 

 Writing down special shapes called letters on to a sign and then walking around with it does not stop snow from falling. Language does not start or stop hurricane winds from blowing. Language does not start or stop the exploding of bombs or the burning of a forest fire. 

 

However, language does allow for the building of bombs, the building of bridges, the building of the transportation devices that go across bridges, and the building of buildings. Without language, there is no such thing as names, nor of marriage, nor of any other contracts, nor of any law or formal government, nor of any of the fields of science.

 

Rita and John's Marriage Certificate

Rita and John’s Marriage Certificate (Photo credit: mary hodder)

Anything that is named is only named through language. When the first boundary in language is created between “me” and “not me,” that creates inside and outside, as in the internal within and the external beyond.

 

In the ancient oral tradition of the Hebrew people, which was later written down and translated, that original dividing in language is called the separating of the Heavens from the Earth. Earth is the labeled, the perceived, the realm of the temporary or changing. Heaven is the process of perceiving or the perceiver, the realm of the enduring or changeless. Heaven could also symbolize “a bird’s eye view” or a holistic perspective.

Heaven  (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/heaven )

O.E. heofon “home of God,” earlier “sky,” possibly from P.Gmc.*khemina- (cf. Low Ger. heben, O.N. himinn, Goth. himins, O.Fris.himul, Du. hemel, Ger. Himmel “heaven, sky”), from PIE base*kem-/*kam- “to cover” (cf. chemise). Plural use in sense of”sky” is probably from Ptolemaic theory of space composed
of many spheres, but it was also formerly used in the same senseas the singular in Biblical language, as a translation of Heb. pl. shamayim.

 

Heaven is a symbolic linguistic unit of code representing a conceptual “place where God lives” and God

"Temple of Heaven, Seoul, Korea"

“Temple of Heaven, Seoul, Korea” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

includes the process of naming or labeling in language, which may be familiar as the Greek term Logos which has been translated in to English as the divine “Word.” Heavenly is a term or label for contrasting with earthly. Heaven is enduring or eternal while earth is constantly changing. Heavenly is godly. Earthly is mortal.

 

The realm of heaven is the kingdom of heaven as in the kingdom of God or domain of God. God rules, but through language. We could even say that language rules (as in measures) or reigns or regulates or organizes. 

 

The Supremacy of God is through the functional supremacy of language. The Supremacy of Heaven is not an astrological theory, but a symbolic reference in language to the functional importance of language (the heavenly or spiritual or subjective) in organizing human experience (the earthly or tangible or objective).

 

Of course, humans can recognize the influence of solar activity on the temperature of the earth at various seasons and during the day and night. However, a poetic or symbolic metaphor like “the supremacy of the heavenly” is totally distinct from a basic recognition of astrological influences such as the lunar phase corresponding to tidal fluctuations or the normal periodic duration of the menstrual cycle of fertile females.

 

Perhaps the mundane denotation of the word “heavenly” would be presumed to refer to the influence of the sun over the predictably fluctuating temperatures of midnight and high noon. Perhaps the original spiritual teachings of the author(s) of the Old Testament took an observable phenomenon from everyday life (the influence of the daily solar cycle sun over the fluctuating temperature on the surface of the earth) and then associated that observable pattern with a conceptual principle: the importance of language is organizing human perception. 

 

Language is metaphorically like the sun in regard to language’s influence over perception being similar to the sun’s influence over the earth’s temperature. In other words, just the sun dominates or regulates earthly temperatures, so does language dominate and regulate earthly human experience.

 

 > text continued below – part 2 of video:

Deutsch: Nahaufnahme der Brüste einer schwange...

Deutsch: Nahaufnahme der Brüste einer schwangeren Frau. English: Closeup of the breasts of a pregnant woman. Français : Plan rapproché des seins d’une femme enceinte. Italiano: Primo piano dei seni di una donna incinta. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If we consider the process of the neurological processing of sensory data, it is clear that social conditioning through language has a huge influence on perception. In scientific studies, various groups of people can be directed through language to give attention to particular patterns or issues, then the various groups can all be exposed to the exact same phenomenon, like an audio recording or a theatrical performance.

 

Through language, people can be trained to focus on different aspects of any event. Their attention is controlled through language. Controlling their attention through language also controls their perception and thus their response (or lack of response).

 

As an example, imagine that a group of people have been trained through language to experience disgust and shame when exposed to seeing a the spurting of blood (even fake blood) or something like a naked human female‘s breast. They may be traumatized and socially conditioned to respond to the trigger with disgust and physical sickness.

A San (Bushman) who gave us an exhibition of t...

A San (Bushman) who gave us an exhibition of traditional dress and hunting/foraging behavior. Namibia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Then, a group of primitive humans and a similar group of traumatized, socialized people are exposed to a naked female’s breast. One group is aroused in to outrage and threatens to kill the offensive woman for her offensive crime of indecent exposure. The other group is startled not by the naked female breast, but by the remarkably bizarre reaction of the socialized people.

 

Another experiment could be done in which a photograph of some human skin is shown in a close-up, then the video gradually zooms out to reveal that the skin displayed is in fact some breast tissue from a human female. The skin itself may not produce disgust in the witnesses, at least not until they realize that it is a human female breast.

 

They may have been trained to conclude that a naked human female breast is shameful and evil and sinful. That linguistic process (which is also a social process) “defines” their experience of that particular visual.

 

Round breasts that project almost horizontally

Round breasts that project almost horizontally (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Adult females could all be considered threats by these people, including if they are females themselves. They may go around avoiding looking at naked breasts and avoiding thinking about naked breasts and so on.

 

 

Now, why would a society ever develop such a taboo against the public exposure of adult female breasts? Because adult men may be physiologically and genetically predisposed to recognize adult female human breasts and react with a surge of hormones and so on, therefore it can be distracting for the human men to see adult human female breasts. 

 

So, what may be functionally distracting biologically may be specified by social language as taboo, as forbidden, as immoral, as criminal, as punishable by various responses like arrest, fine, corporal punishment (like whipping or incarceration), and even execution.

Should there be no such thing as taboos? That itself would be taboo.

 

 

Title: Personal photographs of the Hon. C L A ...

Title: Personal photographs of the Hon. C L A Abbott during his term as Administrator of the Northern Territory – Aborigine Chief of Bathurst Island who died of fright in Darwin when he saw his first motor car Date: 1939 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anthropologists recognize that language exists as well as social conditioning and social norms and taboos. Language is a type of social conditioning, though certainly not the only one. For instance, “criminals” are not just punished with insults and shouting and the revoking of memberships and corresponding privileges of membership, but with being physically attacked (arrested) and otherwise punished (like financially, with courts taking away physical possessions and property rights).

 

Language is the realm of identification as well as of justification. In particular, there is no such thing as justice except in language. Different cultures may have widely varying (conflicting) norms of justice. So, language plays a huge role in the process of defining what is labeled right (socially acceptable or even rewarded) or wrong (socially discouraged or punished). 

 

Language is an instrument of social conditioning. Language is the instrument through which various models of defining reality (models of perceiving) are created and distributed.

Language defines reality. Language organizes reality. Language interprets reality.

 

 

The Human Resources Manager

The Human Resources Manager (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Religious institutions indoctrinate or educate or influence or govern perception and behavior. The same is true of mass media outlets as well as schools.

 

Propaganda about what forms of influence are right or legitimate or just are of course themselves instances of cultural programming or indoctrination. Because the functional supremacy of language is extremely obvious, one of the most important forms of indoctrination might be concerning “authority.”

 

The self-evident authority or supremacy of language may be systematically obscured. However, human society itself is what uses language as the instrument of that society, so it is not really inaccurate to use language that emphasizes the authority of social conditioning in general over the specific linguistic form of social conditioning in particular.

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This entry was posted on April 16, 2012 at 3:34 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “The Supremacy of language, heaven, god, and society”

  1. pk Says:
    April 16, 2012 at 6:39 pm | Reply

    Thanks, buddy, we’re clearly not saying exactly the same thing but are conspicuously thinking in parallel! I’ll link you to several of my posts.

  2. Heaven & Hell | PKnatz Blog Says:
    April 16, 2012 at 6:47 pm | Reply

    […] not the same points, but deep into the epistemological implications of the science of semiotics. The Supremacy of Language. I’ll keep my eyes open to see if this JR Fibonacci is related to the great […]

  3. The Ladyboy Mirror Says:
    June 17, 2012 at 12:44 pm | Reply

    Reblogged this on The Ladyboy Mirror and commented:
    In Genesis 1:1 it is written:
    “God Created Heaven and Earth”

    Thousands of years later a Thoelogean wrote a book and said, in the beginning men created God that have created heaven and earth.

  4. teresapelka Says:
    June 17, 2012 at 5:30 pm | Reply

    I do not agree that language conditions; a behaviorist traumatizing a human individual would try to use an euphemism – ‘Language does it’. No. The trauma does it, moreover, most individuals only gladly get rid of the perseveration (I’m using the the term in its linguistic sense). I don’t really understand the question of supremacy. I’m bound to ask forgiveness, but the use verges on naivete. Maybe I blog about it some time later, a time better for me. Already kids know that you don’t need to pile books one on top of another. Why try to introduce supremacy? Coexistence neither to forbid nor to force interaction would be so much more intellectively interesting.

    • jrfibonacci Says:
      June 17, 2012 at 6:57 pm | Reply

      Hi Teresa,

      Thank you for your reply. Let us notice that there are two kinds of interactions.

      First, there are direct physical interactions, like heat from the sun and shaking hands and the power of gravity. Second, there are interactions through the medium of language, which involves neuro-chemistry in the processing of sounds or (in this case) various little shapes of black on this screen (letters and words).

      In the audio of this blog (and perhaps the text- I do not recall and did not check), the speaker (me) was very specific that the supremacy of language is relative. There is no such thing as absolute supremacy. Language is a relational or relative process. The supremacy of language is the recognition that language CAN guide other physical process, and itself is distinct from other physical processes. However, given that language is entirely neuro-chemical, language is actually just another physical process.

      So, humans have the capacity for highly developed language. You may be a native speaker of some language unfamiliar to me. I may use some words that are unfamiliar to you. Language is only supreme or superior when it is and how it is. Without neurology, these shapes on this screen are not language, but are only shapes on a screen, though they would not even be recognized as shapes on a screen for such recognition already implies the labeling or categorizing activity of language, which further implies active neuro-chemistry (perceiving).

      One of the ironies of the title is that supremacy is so often presumed to be absolute. That is one of the subtle points of this content. “Supremacy” is just a word. “Absolute” is also just a word.

      “The absolute supremacy of God” is an entirely valid phrase, though it is entirely linguistic, as in neurochemical. Language itself has no direct influence over clouds or puppies or anything at all. Language is exclusively an indirect influence.

      Can the words of a particular language alter the activity of clouds or puppies? Not as scribbles of ink on a sign, nor through sound waves. Only through the mechanism of neuro-chemistry. The neuro-chemistry can convert the sound waves or shapes of writing in to another form of energy. It is real energy. It is real influence. It is through language that bridges are built and through language that soldiers burn down bridges.

      Language is just “software” or programming. Without hardware and power, it is useless. (However, how useful is hardware with electrical power, but no software?)

      With hardware and electricity and language together, there is great potential. Further, the idea that language CANNOT influence clouds and puppies is entirely a construction in language, an idea, a belief, a superstition. Language is magic- just as magical as crystals of quartz that can “send and receive” radio waves and convert them in to sound in cell phones and TVs and radios. The crystals of course do not really “do” anything.

      As for behaviorists and trauma and operant conditioning, everything is conditioning. Everything is influence.

      Consider the word momentum. It means an existing movement. Psychologically or spiritually, an existing momentum is called a motive or karma. It means the moving of energy or force.

      You are the moving of energy or vital force. You do not have karma so much as you are karma.

      In the absence of karmic activity, there is no linguistic activity (neuro-chemically) of the identifying of an isolated self. That is just a program of conditioning.

      What is actually happening? There is neurological activity- like in reading these shapes but also in the organizing of this specific sequence of shapes. Further, these shapes were invented.

      That is the activity of Logos or Language or God’s Will or God’s Karma or the Divine Word or the Tao. The activity of the Tao includes when a brain forms a signal that produces the firing of nerves and the twitching of muscle tissues and the typing of these words as well as the prior construction of these computers. The activity of the Tao includes the invention of language and alphabets and the formation of species and the invention of nerves and neurology and planets and chemistry and so on.

      So, words can present a hierarchy or chronology. Of course, these will just be a bunch of words, right?

      One hierarchy is that the originating category of Tao or God or Life or Nature FORMS ITSELF in to a subcategory called heaven, (like a seed sprouts in to a trunk). Next, the subcategory of heaven branches and branches and branches and eventually forms itself in to humanity and then all the various language groups and then the various societies which can distinguish themselves from other groups of humans that speak the same language.

      What “divides” the social organization called “the United States” from the social organization called “Canada?” To the extent that both are subcategories of the speaking of English, we can say that the boundary between them only exists within the English language. A native american may call both societies “the European colonial occupation” which is an entirely valid linguistic construction in whatever other native language (translated in to English of course). What divides the state of California from the state of Arizona? It is a categorical distinction in language. The activity of language organizes all other divisions or distinctions between the operations of California and the operations of Arizona. Outside of language, California and Arizona do not exist at all.

      Again, these are like branches of a hierarchy. God divides in to heaven and earth, then God as earth divides in to various neurological momentums which God as earthling calls “language” or “human language,” and then God as earth and earthling and language further subdivides in to individual societies or in to individual organisms or in to
      personas and personalities.

      The Supremacy of the Heavenly God is like the activity of a mustard seed. It branches. The original vine of the Heavenly God abides in each of the vines or branches.

      When God knows itself as Heaven and Earth and Earthling and Language and Personality, then there is a “fulfillment” of social conditioning. An individual is born spiritually. God (as society) gives birth to itself as individual. This is not the same as the persona which is entirely a construct of social conditioning. This is the birth of the awareness of language and God as the same process.

      God is not a personality. God is a symbolic code in the English language. God represents an idea that is represented with other linguistic codes (words) in other languages.
      God (or Allah or Brahman etc) is the label for the origin of languages.

      God is a linguistic unit for what is supreme over language. Language is supreme, through the authority or supremacy of God, over all categorizing and labeling and organizing that happens through the linguistic neuro-logical programming or structuring of experience (experiences). When God recognizes itself as language, that is the presence of God.

      One can recognize that there is only the presence of God, in many forms. One can also deny the presence of God totally or reject the presence of God in a particular case, such as “I am the isolated individual branch over here and God is the distant trunk over there, and now I need to struggle to connect with God. What is the best way for me to struggle to re-connect with God?”

      Again, that is all just a bunch of language. In other words, that is all just a variety of forms of the activity of God.

      So, does a quartz crystal “send and receive” anything? Not really. Does “Canada” actually do anything on its own (isolated from God or Nature or Reality)? Not at all. Do I “do” anything? Only as an instrument of God or agent of God.

      The language that recognizes God within is distinct from the language of the isolated personality that does not recognize the presence of God within. Both patterns in language are formations of God. Formations of God are all God.

      Formations of God can construct patterns in language of “I am not a formation of God, but only a formation BY God.” However, consider that formations of God do not in themselves “do” anything. God can divide in to “formations by God,” but that “dividing” is like the dividing of the front of the hand “from” the back of the hand. It is only a division in language. It is only a division within God.

      There are no linguistic units that are isolated from language. There are no branches of God that are isolated from God. God is within every branch of God. Every linguistic unit is intrinsically the activity of language.

    • jrfibonacci Says:
      June 17, 2012 at 7:32 pm | Reply

      I re-organized the prior reply in to a new blog post: https://jrfibonacci.wordpress.com/2012/06/17/the-activity-of-god-including-the-activity-of-language/

      If you wish to reply, I direct you to reply there.

  5. the activity of God, including the activity of language « power of language blog: partnering with reality by JR Fibonacci Says:
    June 17, 2012 at 7:26 pm | Reply

    […] This is a reply to a comment on another blog of mine:  https://jrfibonacci.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/the-supremacy-of-language-heaven-god-and-society/ […]

  6. teresapelka Says:
    June 18, 2012 at 5:34 am | Reply

    Taking my reply there, T

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