Category Archives: Language

On the Permeability of Borders

Posted on July 4, 2016 by Symbol Reader

Although scholars differ in their estimation of the number of words and phrases that Shakespeare introduced into English, they all agree that he transformed the language tremendously. He referred to himself as “a man on fire for new words.” As … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Tagged borders, language, loan words, permeability, Shakespeare | 9 Comments

Discovering Intellectual Fire: the Birth of English

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Symbol Reader

The written word is both of the earth and of the spirit, positioned on the intersection between mind and flesh. It freezes the living, shimmering organism of language in time, petrifies it, making it immortal. The intangible, impenetrable roots of … Continue reading →

Posted in English, Language | Tagged Anglo Saxons, christianization, English, history, language, Latin, Lindisfarne Gospels, Melvyn Bragg, Old English, origins, runes, The Adventure of English | 5 Comments

Dancing Dragons and Horses Soaring into the Air: 3000 Years of Chinese Calligraphy

Posted on December 20, 2015 by Symbol Reader

I had an enormous fortune today to see an exhibition dedicated to 3000 years of Chinese calligraphy. I found it very illuminating how the organizers juxtaposed traditional and contemporary art, creating a very compelling dialogue between them. In the 11th … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Calligraphy, Language, Uncategorized | Tagged archetypes, Buddhism, China, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese characters, Cui Fei, exhibition, Fung Ming Chip, heart sutra, landscript, language, Qiu Zhijie, Song Dong, Wang Guxiang, Wang Xizhi, Xu Bing, Zhu Yunming | 12 Comments

Life and Mind and Language

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Symbol Reader

“The incomparable feature of human language is that its magical community with things is immaterial and purely mental, and the symbol of this is sound. The Bible expresses this symbolic fact when it says that God breathes his breath into … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Quotations | Tagged archetypes, breath, creation, language, logos, mind, sound, symbolism, symbols, word | 24 Comments

The Lightening Message of Grace

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Symbol Reader

Kanji symbol for cherry blossom Linden tree fossil In his book On the Way to Language (1959), the philosopher Martin Heidegger includes a philosophical dialogue between an “Inquirer“ (I) and a Japanese man (J). This particular exchange really stirred my … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Tagged archetypes, bark, book, cherry blossoms, Chiron, etymology, Greek myth, Japanese, language, liber, linden tree, Martin Heidegger, Medusa, On the Way to Language, Pegasus, Philyra, symbolism, symbols | 14 Comments

The World Is Like a Divine Language

Posted on June 14, 2014 by Symbol Reader

René Guénon “1. … symbolism seems to us to be quite specially adapted to the needs of human nature, which is not exclusively intellectual but which needs a sensory basis from which to rise to higher levels. 2. Fundamentally, every … Continue reading →

Posted in Language | Tagged archetypes, Rene Guenon, sacred science, symbolism, symbols, words | 11 Comments

The Mysticism of Language

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Symbol Reader

In the beginning was the word, the word That from the solid bases of the light Abstracted all the letters of the void; And from the cloudy bases of the breath The word flowed up, translating to the heart First … Continue reading →