Something like Plato’s Theory of Forms. (Philo majors please forgive me if I have it wrong. This is what I vaguely remember from Lit Crit.)
Trying to put it simply, let’s say there is CONCEPT of something, and you want to let someone else know. But human language is essentially flawed, and incapable of expressing concepts in a way that is exactly the same for the speaker (or writer) AND the reader/listener. “I do not think it means what you think it means.”
The process of turning thoughts into words is therefore already a dilution or corruption of the “pure thought”.
Wall of Text below
Here’s an example of the journey of your idea:
My thought --> passing through the filters of my personal experience, the vocabulary I have at my disposal, the words I choose as an extension of my personality —> out comes the word I say, floating into your eyes or ears —> however this also passes through your own filters, your “schema”, worldview, it could even be affected by the mood you are currently in, or if you are more perceptive than others --> by the time it reaches your brain, it’s already altered and warped several times over.
That’s why misunderstandings and “lost in translation” happens. Everything outside the mind is murky water for the idea to swim though, an obstacle course. All communication is a game of Telephone/Gossip, and (in the best scenarios) we try our best to fill in the gaps with patience and empathy and assuming good intention. At worst, people get angry, offended, hurt, even though the other person didn’t mean it that way. There’s an error not just in transmission, but interpretation.
Symbols and pictures, music, sometimes get transmitted better, because it’s a few less layers of filters. That’s why art can speak directly to our soul, no words required.
If we could “beam” thoughts directly to each other, the fidelity would be better.
Now with Conceptual Realization, it helps tear down some of those cobwebs in between you and me.
Let’s say we both speak English. But “my English” is so so different from “your English”. We don’t have the same upbringing, education, subculture.
But now, you get a babelfish translation device in your ear loaded with “my English.”
(I’ll get into how this helps you learn life lessons in a minute, or in my next post.)
As an ESL teacher and immigrant, I do this all the time automatically, and I respond to what local speakers mean rather than what they say.
I could write a book on all the examples. Here’s a really silly one.
Co-worker: Do you have a rubber?
Me: Oh, uh, sure. (hands over some rubber bands)
Co-worker: Oh, no, for the pencil?
Me: (confusion. Then) OH you want an ERASER!
So my brain then files this away that when this particular person says that word, they mean this thing.
Person: How was your vacation? You got so black!
Me: (ready to rage about racism and white supremacy, but remembering their word for tanned or brown skin is literally “black”) smiles It was great, I had a great time at the beach, thank you for asking!
Other examples:
Partners who value their lives and are in a long-term relationship, will probably know these sentences mean different or even the opposite of what is actually said:
“I’m fine.”
“Do whatever you want.”
“I’ll be ready in a minute.”
The perilous response would be to take it on a literal level. But a perceptive partner, after years of getting it wrong and finally putting the pieces together, would already know that this really translates to something else.
Kapish?
You also would be careful to use certain words with certain people. And know which words are more likely to persuade them. Because you have a sense of how they think. As someone pointed out up thread, this can be very good for business, because you are “speaking their language”. As Dream said, “Rapport”.
This isn’t an instant skill. It takes some time and interaction to calibrate ourselves. But with the field it’s like having Human Translate in our back pocket.
Probably showing my age here but the concept of “grok”. You know how with good friends, they don’t need to work too hard to explain something. Just a word, or even a look, and you can be “Say no more fam. I totally get it.”
short break to drink Plasma water
The part about learning life lessons to break from cycles, it zooms you out and translates not just words but experiences, so you understand it faster and integrate, which closes the loop. It needs a bit more explanation, I’m a bit tired, I’ll sleep on it and see if I can make sense some other time, if at all. Though I think if you listen to the field yourself, you’ll “get it”.
But so far I hope the above isn’t too confusing.
I could also be wrong about this so take this as just one person’s theories.