Waking Life
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:11:02
In short, I think
the message here is...

:11:04
that we should never simply
write ourselves off...

:11:07
and see ourselves as the victim
of various forces.

:11:11
It's always our decision
who we are.

:11:24
Creation seems
to come out of imperfection.

:11:27
I t seems to come out of
a striving and a frustration.

:11:32
And this is where I think
language came from.

:11:36
I mean, it came from our desire
to transcend our isolation...

:11:41
and have some sort of
connection with one another.

:11:45
And it had to be easy
when it was just simple survival.

:11:49
Like, you know, "water."
We came up with a sound for that.

:11:52
Or, "Saber-toothed tiger right behind
you." We came up with a sound for that.

:11:56
But when it gets
really interesting, I think,

:12:00
is when we use that same system
of symbols to communicate...

:12:06
all the abstract and intangible things
that we're experiencing.

:12:11
What is, like, frustration?
Or what is anger or love?

:12:16
When I say "love,"
:12:18
the sound comes
out of my mouth...

:12:20
and it hits
the other person's ear,

:12:23
travels through this
Byzantine conduit in their brain,

:12:27
you know, through their memories
of love or lack of love,

:12:32
and they register what I'm saying
and say yes, they understand.

:12:35
But how do I know they understand?
Because words are inert.

:12:38
They're just symbols.
They're dead, you know?

:12:42
And so much of our experience
is intangible.

:12:46
So much of what we perceive cannot
be expressed. It's unspeakable.

:12:51
And yet, you know,
when we communicate with one another,

:12:56
and we--
:12:59
we feel that we
have connected,


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