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"You will always find an answer in the sound of water."

​- Zhuangzi

Defining vs. Describing

8/14/2017

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It is true to say that there is nothing wrong, and in there being nothing wrong there is also nothing right.

In order to know what is wrong, you must know what is right.

But they're both "wrong" you see, both circumstances come from one's opinion of the situation.

Killing the enemy is valorous in war, but reprehensible for sport.

The only "truth" in this is the actual act of killing which is a verb the same as running; these are both gerunds, or verbs that take noun form.

An interesting question though is how can a verb be defined? How can an action be defined?

It is almost like defining a sound. One can certainly hear a sound and wonder what it might be, but to "define" what a sound "is" will be taking the true meaning away from it's action, which is that sound in itself. 

Action is quite axiomatic or self-evident, really since it does not need to theorized over in order to be understood; the action is hitting one or more of the five senses and his felt, smelled, tasted, seen, or heard as the case may be. The input has gone straight to the brain and bypassed the conscious.

So, to take "swimming" as an example, sure, it is the act of moving a body through water, but this is a description rather than a definition.

You might wonder the significance of the difference, well it is quite a vast one.

To describe is to hint at or glance, like you take a glancing blow at something rather than piercing it through to the center. Descriptions always dance around the issue in question.

Definitions are more substantial; they attempt to get at the heart of things though usually they too ultimately fall short. The "-fine" portion of define come from the Latin finio which means to "end" or "complete". So the m.o. of definitions are to tie up all the loose ends of a problem so there will be no more problem.

The "truth" still cannot be wrangled by definitions.

The truth is sat squarely outside of definition.

Both definition and description by their very nature seek to tame what is wild. Why does the wild need to be tamed? It is actually quite reprehensible to do so.

Violence is required.

When you stop trying to tame the wild, you will have it all around you,

Just use your eyes to see it.




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