Subject: I AM A NOUN

hi - try this -

Our language divides our world and our experiences in terms of subjects doing things to objects. - But what if this is not what is actually happening? .. (merely one way of describing it, one point of view).

In "The Way of Zen" Alan Watts desribes how many old languages were made up of pictures. The ancient Chinese is probably the best known.

Watts describes the picture of a stone hitting the water and the water rippling. He explains how we think it is obvious : the stone hitting the water causes the ripples ... it is clear and logical: without the stone there could have been no ripples !

BUT, also, ... without the ripples there could have been no stone !! ... without the rain there could have been no clouds ...

To the Chinese picture language the interdependance of subject, verb and object is obvious ...

Alan Watts argues that some of our greatest philosophical problems develop out of our language - cause and effect, free-will and predestination.

Do nouns do things to objects ...? ... does this really describe what happens ?

It seems to me that if our questions about "Who am I?" - are only asked in terms of subjects objects and verbs, then our answers will also be rather limited ..., basically : I am a noun ... an isolated concept which can only survive by doing or being done to ...

Robin