Comments on: Musings on Words and Music

By: francesca

francesca — Thu, 03 Mar 2005 23:28:45 +0000

Wow Daniel, you’ve touched on something deep here. Your article says so many things, in a very concise way, that it’s hard to know where to start to comment on it properly. I suppose I’ve always thought of words as a form of communication, but only one, which we as a human race use because it’s reasonably consistent and convenient. But you’re right, a word or name can only go so far, and the scope for difference and slippage of meaning is huge, despite the fact that we think that verbal language is actually quite tight and accurate. But you’re right, it isn’t. Communication and speaking are not the same. Communicating without words can be the most powerful of any form of communicating - music, dance and art being some of the most powerful and important of the lot. For instance, I had the feeling we all communicated quite a lot through music the other week, more than the words we exchanged.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 22:24:00 +0000

Yes, Anna, I think I agree with you that we need to develop a kind of mindfulness in our use of words which isn’t commonplace. There are a lot of echoes of these ideas in the work of Carl Rogers - the guy who invented person-centred counselling. I would wish us to take every care to distinguish between the word and the experience (de dicto and de re as those traditional philosophers would say).

By: anna

anna — Fri, 25 Feb 2005 13:29:55 +0000

That is a very interesting and thought provoking piece Daniel. However, Casteneda does use words to describe his journeys - as do you. I think the challenge of language and modern society is to find a different kind of precision than that which contemporary language strives for. That certainly is the poets challenge; we use words not just for sense but to speak a music as well and to draw pictures that we hope will speak a more subconscious friendly language. And don’t forget that whilst to us bird song may be wordless it is not necessarily that way for birds.
Love from Anna

By: hilde

hilde — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 22:07:09 +0000

That’s really moving, Daniel, thank you.
Not surprising that that was the first word that came to mind, isn’t it? Moving. But I really think it is. I love the idea of hearing the music of another soul. I try to listen to that song while sitting in my garden for a while most days. And sometimes I am ‘moved’ to actually dance…