sitting here pondering whether or not the loneliness will take a toll on me.. started thinking about it and realized that i have never been alone, although ive always thought of myself as someone who relies on solitude, never have i been alone.. not for a week or even a day have i went without some sort of human interaction..
on a different note for a long time ive wondered if language helps or hinders a human beings thought process.. when you have a thought isnt it usually in your native tongue? i came to this realization playing chess and noticed that before each move i say to myself (or 'think' to myself) bishop b3 or pawn d4 rather than just mentally visualizing the move.. of course im referring to 'conscious' thought as subconscious thought seems much more natural and powerful (read 'blink' by malcolm caldwell).. anyway my question is this: does thinking in a language help the thought process by giving you tons of predetermined reference points (words), therefore giving your thoughts structure and speeding things up? or does it hinder the process by constricting you to conciously thinking only thoughts within that finite group of word, therefore making it very difficult to 'think outside the box'? a good example might be modern physics.. enormous amounts of evidence suggest many more than 3 dimensions exist all around us (11 seems to be the number that most can currently agree on) but because we only can perceive 3 with our senses it is very dificult for even the most intelligent of humans to begin to wrap their minds around the concept of these other dimensions.. in other words it is very difficult for us to understand things to which we ourselves are not organic (it wasnt until only 500 years ago that scientists realized that the earth is round, and revolves around the sun and not the other way around.. because of religion, everyone thought that the earth was the center of the universe.. and like many religious anecdotes, it's a cute thought and made perfect sense at the time of it's writing, but a very far cry from reality).. the same can be said for the countless mathematicians who have driven themselves to the brink of insanity trying to comprehend the concept of infinity.. life on earth evolved to survive here on earth, breathe oxygen from trees, fish derive oxygen from water, etc.. but if you take that life outside of earth's atmosphere its instantly fatal.. life relies on the habitat in which it has evolved the same way that thought seems to rely on the languages in which its evolved..
anyway sorry for rambling on but this has been on my mind for a long time so what i plan on doing is to spend a week or so completely alone.. and i mean ALONE.. i have a month in nz and should have about 2 weeks free time (its only 500 or so miles from auckland to christchurch) so i want to find a very secluded spot hopefully with no people or signs of people for miles, ideally near the ocean, running water, a river, or something constant and kinda hypnotic.. and i want to stay there completely alone for a week or so and really focus on thinking clearly without the english language (or any language).. focus on the natural world, the stars at night, etc and see what happens .) can thought transcend language? or will i be reduced to mindlessly looking for food, expressing myself through grunts and body language like my ancestors did before the invention of language.. (and apes still do!)
please feel free to leave any comments or thoughts in the comment box, thx
