Mark Earls described an intriguing article from last week’s New Scientist. To quote the article…
European languages…perfectly mirror the classical world of Newtonian physics. When we say ‘the cat chases the mouse’we are dealing with well-defined objects (nouns), which are connected via verbs. Likewise, classical physics deals with objects that are well located in space and time, which interact via forces and fields. But if the world doesn’t work the way our language does, advances are inevitably hindered.
Bohm pointed out that quantum effects are much more process-based, so to describe them accurately requires a process-based language rich in verbs, and in which nouns play only a secondary role. In the last year of his life, Bohm and some like-minded physicists, including myself [David Peat], met a number of native American elders of the Blackfoot, Micmac and Ojibwa tribes - all speakers of the Algonquian family of languages. These languages have a wide variety of verb forms, while they lack the notion of dividing the world into categories of objects, such as ‘fish’, ‘trees’ or ‘birds’.
Although families of languages like the Algonquian are more processed based, we may not have the time or the motivation to be able to learn them and use them fluently. However, we are all fluent in another process based argot that extends beyond the bounds of conventional language, with fewer constraints than most waking thought.
This native language is the language of dreaming, where we express ourselves extralinguistically. In our extralinguistic explorations we can create objects and concepts that have no name and need no name. We can create new symbols or use familiar metaphors in new contexts. We can make meaningful sense from scattered and apparently unconnected fragments.
In Dreamwork, we use a variety of methods to encourage clients to step beyond the boundaries of conventional language based thought, using processes like the Silent Story and InterObjects.
