Language and Reality

The land reveals itself in color, shape and texture these days. Whether it is the Calla Lily blowing among the Hosta or the male American Goldfinch painting a yellow streak through the air- there is a presentation of form. To express the beauty and interconnectedness of life into a form of language is the challenge. The artist/writer is skilled at it- of evoking a sense of place and connecting it with the experience of the reader/viewer. It is through the power of language that this place becomes a cultural experience.

Today, a vireo perched on the branches outside the kitchen window. Was is a Hutton's Vireo or a Cassin's? I think the later. But what is this inclination, this desire to name something? It is evident that it is important to us. All one needs to do is to look on the bookshelves of any bookstore, or online book seller, to see the world of identification books. Travel books identify the names of historic buildings, wildflowers are categorized and ready to be named. Many people don't retain the name they have just learned, but there is a sense of knowing that comes from having a word to identify it. Language allows us to fit things into categories of the known. It is the rare human being that is comfortable with seeing something just for what is present without wanting to call it something: bird, vireo, or Vireo cassinii.


The photo to the left is of the new raised beds behind the house. Our need to define is tied in to our need for order, structure, consistency. Most gardeners have lines and rectangles. The rows of plants or the planned randomness of a flower garden. There is this consistent need to bring order to our world- we cut down the things that ramble in favor of the orderly. Yet it is the curves, like the snake, that bring variety and pleasantness to our world. Disregard the aversion that you might have of snakes and see the elegance of the lines and the subtle shading of the scales. Now, we use our language to create a category called: like or don't like.
Language exerts hidden power, lie a moon on the tides. Rita Mae Brown, Starting from Scratch. 1988.