"I am so afraid of people's words.
They describe so distinctly everything:
And this they call dog and that they call house,
here the start and there the end.
I worry about their mockery with words,
they know everything, what will be, what was;
no mountain is still miraculous;
and their house and yard lead right up to God.
I want to warn and object: Let the things be!
I enjoy listening to the sound they are making.
But you always touch: and they hush and stand still.
That's how you kill."
They describe so distinctly everything:
And this they call dog and that they call house,
here the start and there the end.
I worry about their mockery with words,
they know everything, what will be, what was;
no mountain is still miraculous;
and their house and yard lead right up to God.
I want to warn and object: Let the things be!
I enjoy listening to the sound they are making.
But you always touch: and they hush and stand still.
That's how you kill."
- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 - 1926)
Tom Brown, Jr. was the founder and head of Tom Brown's Tracking, Nature and Wilderness Survival School. Tom had a whole rant about names (which I won't repeat here) but in essence he broke names down into several factors. Yes, names identify. When I studied Dendrology, all of a sudden I could separate white spruce from balsam fir, yellow birch from hop hornbeam, and much more.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, names are just labels we stick on things so we know what to say when we point at them: cup, boat, Mike. A name tells you nothing about it; the name red oak doesn't tell you what parts of it you can eat, what parts you can use for medicines, etc.
And worst is when we attach attributes to names. As Tom said, "Take white sucker" and everybody goes, "Ugh. Garbage fish." "Ever eat one?" "No, not me..." "Don't eat for three days and come back and talk to me."
Thomas Hübl said, "If I know you and you come to my door, as soon as I see you my mind starts thinking, "This is _____ and s/he is_____.""
Better to meet everyone for the first time, every time.
Mike