adambohannon

A few highlights from my current read, Edward T. Hall’s Beyond Culture (Chapter 4 – Hidden Culture)

“…language is not…a system for transferring thoughts or meaning from one brain to another, but a system for organizing information and for releasing thoughts and responses in other organisms.” (pg 57) (my emphasis)

“Two things get in the way of understanding: the linearity of language and the deep biases and built-in blinders that every culture provides.  Transcending either is a formidable task.  In addition, the broad base on which culture rests was laid down millions of years ago, long before man appeared on this earth, and for better or worse it ties man forever to the rest of nature.  This base is rooted in the old, mammalian brain—that part of the brain that treats things as wholes—which constantly synthesizes and comes up with solutions based on everything that happened in the past.  Paradoxically, this old brain that can understand and integrate one’s own culture on a preverbal level frequently gets in the way of understanding and integrating new cultural experiences…This means that if one is to really understand a given behavior on the basic level I am referring to, one must know the entire history of the individual.  It is never possible to understand completely any other human being; and no individual will ever really understand himself—the complexity is too great and there is not the time to constantly take things apart and examine them.  This is the beginning of wisdom in human relations.  However, understanding oneself and understanding others are closely related processes.  To do one, you must start with the other and vice versa.” (p 69) (my emphasis)

Tagged: culture, edward t hall, language, media, media ecology