We have all been at a place where our experience and our beliefs seem disconnected; where language and reality are mismatched. That place is a unique opportunity – how we respond to it will make us either more honest or more fake.
This disconnect can take on different forms.
The philosopher Jean-Luc Marion spoke of something he called saturated phenomenon. With that he meant an experience that is larger than our capacity to contain – it saturates. It breaks through the boundaries of our language; of our concepts; of our frameworks of understanding.
We’ve met several people whose experience of God has grown far beyond the theological constructs they were raised with. Their beliefs; their religious traditions, simply cannot contain the reality of this experience. On many occasions a person has said to me – I don’t do theology anymore, I simply live in this newfound love. That is an understandable response, but could also become limiting. To give up on language and the meaning-making process is not the optimum solution.
This disconnect between language and experience can take another form as well.
There are times when we lose touch with what we feel. Our experience can become bland. In these moments it is natural to cling to what we believe. We find a sense of security in the meaning we can believe in, despite the lack of experiential confirmation. Again, it is understandable that some pursue this sense of security and therefore discount experience as secondary. This too is not an optimum solution.
Language is not only meant to describe our experiences but to enrich them. And those experiences that break the boundaries of our language are meant to give us new language, new concepts, and an expanded framework of understanding to accommodate larger experiences. And so the optimum process is one in which language, our unique meaning-making capacity, continually enriches our experience and, simultaneously, our experiences continue to stretch our language into new dimensions.
Experience is not something we can separate from meaning. Neither can meaning exist in a non-physical vacuum. Another philosopher, Whitehead, gave us one of the best understandings of experience I’ve come across. He showed how in every moment of becoming, an entity feels the influence of its environment and the possibilities that lie before it. By interpreting these influences and choosing which possibilities to actualize into an internal unity, it becomes a self-organizing entity. This process is applicable to the smallest units, such as atoms, to the largest most complex entities, such as humans. Experience is a concept that unites both the physical and subjective aspects of reality.
So don’t give up on language. It needs not be restrictive or stale; it can be part of the blissful enjoyment of life. And similarly, don’t lose yourself in irrelevant ideas. Ask yourself, how does this idea enrich your experience?
Now this might not be for everyone, but for those looking for new language and new experience, I’m excited to announce that we’ve opened registration for our 2023 Mimesis Academy. The goal of the program is exactly what I’ve spoken about here – to enrich your experience and give you a new language with which to create meaning.
