Who am I?

I am Ben Rosen

I am a tennis player

I outspoken fan of buffalo cauliflower

I am a writer

I am a student

I am American

I’m a human

I’m a mammal

I’m an animal

All of these are made up. They are descriptions. I can only label myself with words that humans created.

Water is not liquid. Liquid is a term we created that can describe water but its not water.Water can’t be describe with words. The name for a certain object can only be explained with other terms that humans have created. This is an idea that I saw presented by Alan Watts. I find it fascinating and confounding

I can’t even describe myself as a living creature. Those are terms we created. There’s nothing wrong with using artificial terms, but it’s something humans created. Who are humans really? I can’t even explain it using words.

It’s puzzling. We use words as if it’s part of the natural world. We created them. Obviously I understand the importance of language, but all these labels are artificial.

It’s difficult for me to comprehend. It doesn’t necessarily make sense to me, but I guess that’s why zen philosophers says we need to abandon the rational mind. It doesn’t need to make sense.

According to the zen, I don’t need to try to explain or understand it, so I won’t try. I wish more people talked about this, however, this is the main reason why I’m drawn to western philosophers like Alan Watts.

It’s just fascinating. I do, in fact, feel dissolved after seeking the answer. Like everything I know is made up. Like my perception of every object in this world is made up. This does not make me hopeless, but rather, intrigued and fascinated. I do not wish there was a world without language, but rather, I am admiring the influence language has in our society and in our perceptions of society. It’s kind of crazy how we created this whole world or game, which is how Alan Watts refers to it.

Sorting through this makes me feeler smaller, but in a reassuring way. Thinking of the role of language in my perceptions of the world makes me feel less isolated and more connected to others. Not just other humans, but other parts of the natural world.

I can not say that I completely understand what Eastern Philosophers exactly mean when they say that the whole universe is connected, but I just got closer to comprehending the concept.

Anybody else fascinated by this idea?