Elizaveta Friesem
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          • Meanings perceived by animals
          • Meaning-seeking vs. meaning-making
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          • Self-awareness and empathy of higher order
          • Self-awareness
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          • Subjectivity and objectivity
          • Suggested citation format
          • Synesthesia
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          • The importance of having a purpose
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          • Violence in the human nature
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 Language

PAGE IN PROGRESS
What you see here is a page of my hypertext book Me, Looking for Meaning. Initially empty, it will slowly be filled with thoughts, notes, and quotes. One day, I will use them to write a coherent entry, similar to these completed pages. See this post to better understand my creative process. Thank you for your interest and patience! :)

Does the language limit what we can think about and experience or it just does not fully express it?

​The game I played with myself repeating a word till it seemed meaning less --

Language connected to other sensations
synesthesia​

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/01/how-persuade-people-you-dont-agree-with?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other​

Do we speak through language or does language speaks through us? See “The death of the author”

When actors say words that somebody else wrote for them, how can they portray a character without lying? They say words that do not belong to them. But don’t we all do that in a way? We express our ideas using words phrases that we did not create. We just accept their meanings and use them to express ourselves. Same as good actors, we are not liars, but we are also not exactly saying what we are feeling and thinking.

children speak this way to, uttering words they don’t fully understand with total seriousness and commitment. Are adults so different from that? I don’t think so.

​have you ever felt that you are dying words that are just handed to you instead of saying what you really mean?

When you are trying to say how you are really feeling, what you are thinking and capture the complexity of your existence, you start talking in a way that nobody understands, like the protagonist of “The Pursuer” by Julio Cortázar. That may explain why some philosophical texts are notoriously difficult to understand for anybody outside of the field. This is what one of my first college professors called “bird language of philosophy “. I did not appreciate it back then but now I am used to it - writing of Foucault.

Gossip theory Robin Dunbar
https://www.rug.nl/research/gelifes/tres/publications/_pdf/sl_eacss09.pdf

German philosopher Ernst Cassirer has said—live in “a new dimension of reality” made possible by the acquisition of a symbolic system (compared to other animals)

"Same story" told with different words is not the same story anymore.
"The medium is the message" McLuhan - you message changes based on words you use (Nonviolent Communication).

Language as a tool that you need to master. Languages as a form of media.

From The Body Keeps the Score: “
language gives us the power to change ourselves and others by communicating our experiences, helping us to define what we know, and finding a common sense of meaning” (end of chapter 2)

Being careful about the language we use: Conscious Style Guide: https://consciousstyleguide.com/young-people-ageist-language
​
​About this project: Start page
Picture
  • About
  • Books
    • Media is us >
      • Principles of communication
      • Micro- and macropower
      • ACE model
      • Description of chapters
      • When conflicts get out of control
    • Hypertexts >
      • Me, looking for meaning >
        • A >
          • Anxiety
          • Am I strong or am I weak?
        • B >
          • Binaries
          • Both sides
        • C >
          • Can I give myself credit for being empathetic?
          • Choice
          • Circumstances
          • Cognitive biases
          • Common sense
          • Communication
          • Content and form of this book
          • Coronavirus and me
          • Culture
          • Cycle of violence
        • D >
          • Depression
          • Do children ask themselves about the purpose of life?
          • Doing the right thing
        • E >
          • Emotional pain
          • Empathy
          • Empathy as a matter of self-preservation
          • Everybody has their struggles
          • Everybody is connected
          • Explain/excuse conflation
        • F >
          • Feelings and emotions
          • Forgetting about your purpose
          • Free will
        • G >
          • Good vs. Bad
        • H >
          • How much do we understand each other?
          • Human brain
          • Human nature
          • Human needs
          • Human thinking
          • Human thinking is nonlinear
          • Hypertext books
        • I >
          • I am an optimist
          • Ideas
          • "I'll never understand!"
          • Individual meanings vs. shared meanings
          • Inner compass
          • Interpretation
          • "It is what it is"
        • J
        • K >
          • Knowing your true purpose
          • Knowledge
        • L >
          • Language
          • List of completed pages
          • Literal vs. nonliteral communication
        • M >
          • Make Sense
          • May I meet this, too, with kindness
          • Meaning as importance
          • Mean and stupid
          • Meaning
          • Meaningless
          • Meaning wars
          • Meaning of life
          • Meaning communities
          • Meanings perceived by animals
          • Meaning-seeking vs. meaning-making
          • Media
          • (Mis)understanding each other's needs
          • My quest for meaning
        • N >
          • Norms
        • O >
          • Objectification
          • On being a scholar
          • On being a writer
          • On being right
        • P >
          • Paradox
          • Parenting
          • Privilege
          • Polarization
          • Postmodern worldview
          • Postmodern philosophy
          • Power
          • Power to see things in a certain way
          • Problem/solution binary
        • Q
        • R >
          • Reality
          • Rhizome in philosophy
        • S >
          • Science, religion and art
          • Self-awareness and empathy of higher order
          • Self-awareness
          • Self-empathy
          • Subjectivity and objectivity
          • Suggested citation format
          • Synesthesia
        • T >
          • "The Death of the Author"
          • The importance of having a purpose
          • Truth
        • U >
          • Understanding ourselves
          • Us and them
        • V >
          • Verbal vs. nonverbal communication
          • Violence in the human nature
        • W >
          • What does it mean to "understand"?
          • What is a text?
          • What we can learn about ourselves from media
          • What is "natural"?
          • What's the point?
          • What will this project become?
          • We hurt others when we are in pain
          • Where do meanings come from?
          • Why am I trying to stay sane?
          • Why do people hurt each other?
          • Why is language so unhelpful?
          • Why do everyday objects make sense?
          • Why do misunderstandings happen?
        • X
        • Y
        • Z
      • Power of meanings // Meanings of power
      • It's not about "them"
  • Editing
    • Me as your editor
    • How I will help you
    • Pricing
    • Privacy policy
  • Blog
  • Workshops
    • Five (easy) steps to become media literate
    • Surviving the polarization vortex
    • Understanding yourself
    • Not enough
  • Learn more
    • Bio
    • Talks and interviews
    • Essays
    • Poems >
      • Stranger
      • Lonely heart
      • Fairy tales
      • Dreams and nightmares
      • Puzzles
      • Moon
      • Seasons
      • Muse
      • Art
      • Sketches
      • Nonsense
    • Educational materials
  • Contact me