by Ruchi Nawathe
I was once asked, “Do you believe that language is restricting?”
It certainly poses a question. Can language fully capture the human experience? More importantly, does it mean that language is restrictive if words that are available to us cannot describe everything? I lay there, soaking up the sun and the sand on a warm August afternoon, and gazed at the bright blue sky.
“The last color to be named in most languages is blue,” I replied. “In cultures where the color blue has no name, blue is not seen. It is simply a translucent color. A constant, like the sky. Once blue is identified, only then do people perceive it.”
Language is what we make it to be. I do not see a lack of language as a restriction, rather as an opportunity to challenge our minds. How many blues are out there in the world, waiting for us to grant them with the power of the word, so they may be perceived?
What defines language? Is it simply the written and spoken word? Or is it something much deeper than that? Language can be anything that we perceive it to be. The clothes that I wear communicate the way that I perceive myself, and the way I want to be perceived. The way my bedroom is organized communicates how I take rest, and how I arrange my life. The crisp tune of a flute can portray emotions so deep they bring tears to one’s eyes.
If language is simply words, then perhaps it could be restrictive, and if it’s more than that, it can be limitless. Just for now, in this blog, I’ll focus on my words. Restrictive or not, words hold power, ideas, and the abstract.
And I want to explore all the possibilities.
Roobootics: The Blog 