our experience can only be communicated between persons through the membrane of language. but language, in order to fulfill its duty of transmitting information between organisms, is fundamentally communal, shared. By contrast, human experience is completely personal and entirely unique 2/X - ThreadSky

expert-gooner.bsky.social • 36 days ago

our experience can only be communicated between persons through the membrane of language. but language, in order to fulfill its duty of transmitting information between organisms, is fundamentally communal, shared. By contrast, human experience is completely personal and entirely unique 2/X

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expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

because of this relationship, communicating one's lived experience necessarily involves compressing *feelings*, which are complex, ever-evolving processes into an agreed upon label for the general shape of the feeling. a state of consciousness is experienced exactly once; it cant be copied 3/X

expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

thus, I cannot truly empathize with you unless i myself have undergone similar experiences. So if we have been raised very differently, we will have very different lenses through which we habitually see the world. 4/X

expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

there are only two ways to overcome this inherent shortcoming of language as a method of communication for feelings: it can be done through shared experience or through radical thought. the former of these, we shall discuss first. 5/X

expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

the method of shared experience involves living with the "other," or the target of understanding. to be closely surrounded by the other's life and culture for a prolonged time. shared experience allows the seeker to at least partially assimilate into the culture of the other. 6/X

expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

assimilating or partially assimilating into the culture of the other allows the seeker to experience states of consciousness with distinct qualities to them. these qualities are lost in translation when described, but shared experience bypasses the need to communicate entirely by giving... 7/X

expert-gooner.bsky.social•36 days ago

the seeker access to the *feeling* directly. i'll illustrate with an example. you may not understand the appeal of rocky horror picture show. no matter how much your friends try to explain it to you, it makes no sense. but if you actually go to a show, full crowd participation and all,... 8/X

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