I was walking home from Gavin's just now when I noticed a cat sitting by the side of the river. She was just waiting in the dark, watching. As I passed, she turned to look at me, then resumed staring and thinking.
I was struck by curiosity - what was she thinking? How could I ever possibly know what a cat thinks about in its leisure time? As I reflected on this, I recognised the same awe and wonder I felt when my little sister was too young to speak. I'd stroke her short, wispy hair while she played with duplo bricks, and wonder what was going on in her oddly-shaped babyhead. She was thinking, all right; she was doing some of the most rapid learning any human ever gets to do - she just had no words for it yet.
This is something that affects all of us at some time or another. As we grow, our thoughts progress from "I don't want to go to Grandma's house, it smells funny" to "Her routine and standards are completely alien to me, and she reminds me of my own mortality and that of my parents." The same feelings, just different thoughts. Just because we learn new words.
Sometimes I wonder if words interfere with the experience. I've been writing for so long now that I can't sit and watch anything without describing it to myself, layering the sights, sounds and smells with words. This isn't a bad thing; words are beautiful, words are another way of digesting an experience - but between that and my obsessive photography, I don't often stay in the moment and just drink it all in.
It's at times like that I envy the cat. She has no words to describe the wind brushing through her fur; the sound of the river trickling over loose pebbles; the occasional sight of a lone human walking tiredly home. She just experiences it, raw and unprocessed; she just Is. She just Is a Cat, and things Are what they Are. Maybe that should be enough for me sometimes too.
This is what I was thinking about as I walked home tonight. The church tower chimed twelve, and I wondered how I'd describe it to you.
Bear
Monday, 13 October 2008
Words are not enough - or too much
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I hope your sister grew out of her oddly shaped head.
ReplyDeleteMe and the girlfriend love this game. Whenever we see any animal we always try to guess what it's thinking, whether it's playing around or watching something.
bizarrely, that might be the best thing you've ever written.
ReplyDeleteI'll try to describe it without words in the style of Zombie Dave:
yrrrrr rrrrr r rrrrrvlrrrrly rrrrrrltr brrrrrrrrrrrr
Allow yourself to envy the cat for a moment, but then recall that the cat has to clean its genitals with its own tongue.
ReplyDeleteProbably a good thing it doesn't have words for that..
Hahaha X) Good point, well made.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feedback guys x
That was great Anna! Thank you for making me think.
ReplyDeleteThat was indeed a wonderful post. I enjoy examining my own thoughts, but I've never come close to the clarity and wonderfully UNDERSTANDABLE...NESS of what you just wrote to describe what's going on in my head. And you managed it because of the very issue you were describing.
ReplyDeleteWonderful!
Words are the greatest gift to humans, but also can be one of our worst curses. I also often find myself wishing to just BE. fascinating.
ReplyDeleteHave you read The Book Thief? It's wonderful, and illustrates exactly how words can set us free...but also hold us captive.
maybe it was you thinking,while walking home and the cat gave you more to focus on.To wonder about an animals thoughts could just be your way of looking inside yourself.
ReplyDeleteHello! I got here via the blog on note. congrates on that.
ReplyDeleteThis idea is why I started blogging. I was reflecting on 1984 (Orwell) and how they stopped people thinking by taking away words. Then I wondered, am I restricting my experience of life by not knowing and mastering words. So as an exercise in expanding my vocab and word using-ness power, I started a blog.
Just thought I'd share.
Kat, I haven't, it sounds interesting! Who's it by? It's certainly a fascinating subject, I was watching a program last night that explained how human brains weren't really built for reading and writing, and how we've had to get smarter to deal with it!
ReplyDeleteKrysti, you may well be right. My mind does tend to go off on one sometimes.
David, hello and thanks!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing how new ideas and thoughts are introduced into your mind when you learn the word for them. For example, have you ever experienced a wistful melancholy? I don't think I ever did until I learned that phrase...
I saw this post because of your "Blog of Note" post.
ReplyDeleteFunny enough, I had one of these moments yesterday. My dog was laying on our ottoman, enjoying an oversized toy. I took my eyes off the TV and just watched him play with it for quite some time. And somehow I started thinking the very things you were thinking.
What if words actually inhibit us? Even though they are beautiful, they might prevent us from truly enjoying things. Even when we're quiet our minds are filled with words. And what if this dog, never knowing how to speak, therefore has a simpler life? He just experiences things.
I can't imagine I said anything even remotely different from your blog, or nearly as eloquently, but I felt like sharing this for some reason.
I must agree with David. I started my blog for the same reason. Here you have written exactly what I hoped for my blog. I must say I am envious
ReplyDeletehey. i 'm new to the blogging scene. loved reading yours. i guess it was the love for words taht got me blogging. they are truly seductive. pity the cat that it knows not the seductive power of self- expression. hey, would love it if you visited my blog sometime and left a note.
ReplyDeleteChris, no creature on this earth seems to embody the saying "ignorance is bliss" quite like a happy dog. Thanks for sharing that with me, it's cool to know that I'm not alone.
ReplyDeleteSonia, we're very lucky indeed to have words... they're beautiful things, and I hope to make them my job one day!
Good writing like this makes me realize how much I suck at writing. Congrats on the spotlight.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing.
Congrats on the "blog of note" recognition. You've made one new fan--glad I checked the list for the first time.
ReplyDeleteThis post made me think of the poetry of Rilke. You should read his Duino Elegies if you haven't & "The Panther"
Have you ever tried to speak a foriegn language? To be successful you have to become a child again and give these new sounds meaning in your own mind. It's rather broadening to have so many ways to express yourself. I think the hard part is knowing what to say..
ReplyDeleteI'll check out Rilke, thanks for the recommendation!
ReplyDeleteNigel, I've tried to learn a little French, but the way I relate to it is through English. I can understand bits and pieces of Latin- or Greek-based languages because English borrows from them. When it comes to learning something entirely new - say, Cantonese - I'm sure I'd find it very difficult indeed!
found you thanks to Blogs of Note, and I am enjoying all your girly silliness and spot-on, sincere curiosity. great work with this blog!!!
ReplyDeleteSeconding the recommendation of The Book Thief. It's by Markus Zusak and I can lend it to you if you like.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, the few postings I've read have made me smile and think...check out mine when you get a chance, I'd love to hear from you. Comments make me all glowy too:-)
ReplyDeletehttp://synchronicty.blogspot.com/
this was a lovely, thoughtful post and of course made me start thinking about words as well...I love how in certain languages, there are words that describe experiences in a way that our language does not and vice versa....like a menage a trois means something different to me than a threesome, just as schadenfreude is it's own particularly German thing....experience is singular but the specificity of words makes it into something that we can share....i suppose the cat in question is blissful but it is also fundamentally alone....
ReplyDeletecan thoughts exist without words? and, if thoughts can't exist without words, then can we have an experience without thoughts? are we capable as humans of accomplishing this? it seems as though some things we can have without thoughts such as instincts like if we touch a hot stove and instintively remove our hand. however, i think it boils down to the question of what an "experience" is. is looking, feeling, or touching really an experience without thoughts accompanying it??
ReplyDeletei really liked this piece. and i like how it made me think of all these questions. very good.
Elizabeth, do you ever do that thing where you think something very quickly and then have to think it again, only word-by-word this time? maybe that's just me. But I do think we can think without words. One had to come before the other, after all! Words just help to give shape and definition to our thoughts. And as Alanna's pointed out, the thoughts are then further influenced by the words that we know!
ReplyDelete