Sometimes the words we use just don't seem to mean what we want them to mean. Language is so important and yet such a poor expression of who and what we are.

Language is a shorthand for the experiences we have. Already our minds select what it thinks is important in what we see, hear, taste, smell and touch. We decide what we like, what we think is important to us. Then everything else that is less important falls by the wayside. We use words that are already limited in making our feelings and sensory experiences understood.

We attach special meaning to words. The words themselves remind us of our experiences. The words mom and dad have different meanings to each of us. Some of us were fortunate enough to have known both parents. And when we hear those words we think of our mom and our dad and how they treated us. This happens automatically. Our memories are somewhere in our not-immediately-conscious mind.

We may imagine that we know about something, but never have really experienced it. Prejudice is an example of this. We imagine that because the news media writes about the enemy in Afghanistan that they know themselves to be evil.  Yet, from their point of view, they believe they are fighting a just cause and it is we who are the enemy.

Other people have had different experiences. They may have never known one or the other or either parent. Their experiences are different. The meaning they attach to the those same words is different. We do this with all the words we know.

When we think and talk, we take the word to mean the thing. We talk as though the  word is the real thing. Take moon as an example. We all know what the moon is, right? It is that big bright shining thing in the sky at night. How much do you really know about the moon? Do you really know the moon or do you just know what you have read? Have you walked on the moon? Have you touched its surface?

In reality we know very little about what we say in words. We just assume that people will understand us because we both have the same limited understanding about the things we talk about. We hope they will have had enough similar experiences to understand what we are talking about.

Yesterday I surfed over to Yahoo Answers to get some ideas for writing. The site is a forum where people ask questions and anyone can answer. Yahoo even provides a link to research the question on the Internet. I looked in the category 'mental health' and found this question, "How can I re-invent myself?"

I am assuming that it was a sincere request for help. And if that is the case, what exactly does the person expect?  What does the word re-invent mean in terms of a person? Personally, I needed more information about the individual's situation to understand what they expected. I needed them to tell me in their own works what experiences they were having that they would expect to need to re-invent themselves.

Any question already contains the seed of the answer. More than that, the person asking the question already knows the answer but is not prepared to accept it. They are not prepared to do what is necessary to move toward the solution of the problem that gave rise to the answer.

Language shapes how we think because it expresses our experience by the meaning we attach to it. At the same time,  language is limited in expressing who we are and what we experience.  Words with the same sounds have different meanings. Words mean different things to different people.

In a short article as this it is impossible to even make a clear statement about language. I will need to write more about this in the future.