Prisoner of My Language
We study our language when we are just born.
First, we touch and hear, taste and smell, and then we see.
We put a name on it. And we repeat it back by sound, motion, and symbols.
Some words we cannot really translate, like the words in the greeting "Hummel, Hummel; Mors, Mors." The people of Hamburg, Germany might be able to explain it, but it would be difficult. In short, "mors" generally means in English "kiss my butt."
But what if it was more profound, take philosophy and theology? Not many in the "west" understand Hinduism. There are words like "zen" and the teachings of Kabir, that describes ideas foreign to the "west."
Unless we look beyond our language, we will be prisoners to it.
by,
Martin Braun
3/17/2020
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