Page 10 - The Irony Board
P. 10
Into the Mind
Radar
Close enough
To sense what
Has no name
I bounce one
Off it to
Get closer.
Raw data of perception or imagination passes through linguistic
filters until a satisfactory symbol can be attached. This process is
culturally or socially conditioned, so that the names already in one’s
brain influence the way internal reality is conceived—or ignored.
Getting closer to what is symbolized need not be literal movement;
that is the beauty of contemplation.
A deeper implication here is of endless progression or regression,
like an infinite series, toward that which has no name because it
cannot: the metaphysical. In this case, necessarily, the intention of
approach can never be fulfilled, despite illusions of proximity.
Gluckman again employs an objective metaphor to make a point
about abstractions. The value of boundary logic in dealing with
macrocosmic issues is considered in a later section.
8