Psychologie und Sprache - aware – Magazin für Psychologie

and stories, however mundane, to bring ourselves
closer together, because as most of us would
agree, lonesomeness is rather a bleak condition
and we would altogether preferably avoid it.
Talking can soothe the loneliness, from reassuring
that we have each other’s back to defining
our common reality. The act of not speaking implies
a few things as well: There is the silent
treatment – a proven nasty but occasionally valuable
weapon when arguing with relatives. Then,
if a relationship sours, people may find themselves
on non-speaking terms. This inconvenient
state of affairs takes place on larger scales as
well, such as on the global political arena: take
Iran and the United States, they have relinquished
official diplomatic relations and negotiations. In
other words, they have stopped talking.
At the same time we are fully aware that conversations
cannot solve everything. Whether
they take place between you and me, or between
entire countries. For somewhere amongst
the complex winding pathways of my translating
information within myself and you decoding
it, entering it into your system, recoding it
and sending it back to me, the process can become
a bit like playing tennis with a square
ball. You aim at one corner, but it ends up in
another: meanings get lost, relationships end,
wars begin. And it becomes clear that there is a
limit to using language as a rational tool to explain
things.
As listeners, we try to translate what is being
said into something that can provide insight. So
let’s stretch the word translation a bit further
even (words do have the wonderful quality to
be quite malleable and elastic) and consider the
final and perhaps the most significant problem
of person-to-person communication:
Problem 3. The explanatory Gap.
How can I share what I really feel when I bite
into a delicious slice of Pizza after waiting
around with a growling stomach for half an
eternity? When the sun sets just right, basking
everything in golden light, how does one communicate
that feeling of joy and oneness with
the rest of the world? That tingling sensation
when seemingly out of nowhere your favorite
song plays on the radio just when you where
thinking of your favorite person. And how can
you adequately express when the person you
love leaves you and you can actually feel your
heart breaking? People everywhere have experienced
the same situation millions of times
over, but never quite as you have, have they?
When someone you care for deeply dies and is
simply gone for good. How can we express
how these events make us feel?
Of course experiences can be described: I can
try to explain how hungry I was and that the
pizza crust is just right, and we can say that the
earth is turning away from the sun, but these descriptions
ultimately fail to match the experience.
When we move towards more personal,
individual experiences and perceptions, descriptions
become increasingly more difficult
and inadequate in reflecting our inner life. Most
likely because the moments and emotions that
really rattle our bones and move something deeply
within us, are beyond words.
When addressing the inner life, Charles Dickens
describes the temptation of Mr. Micawbers
Vice: «The meaning or necessity of our
words is a secondary consideration, if there be
but a great parade of them.» It is very alluring
to talk a lot, as there generally is no single word
that can describe the abundance of our inner
life, contrary to the sharp differentiations that
are possible in external reality. As the psychoanalyst
Léon Wurmser notes in his book The
Mask of Shame: «The inner life is complicated;
like a tapestry with many patterns and fibers
woven lusciously and preciously; and therefore
a dry technical language must be avoided and
one should borrow more from the poet and the
philosopher than from the scientist.»
What is it then that the poet, the artist does?
What can we take from them, when trying to
come to terms with our shared human condition?
We have long been interested in art because
we recognize how it speaks to our inner nature;
the production and appreciation of art is
understood by many to be inherent to humans,
and as such, it may serve as a key to access
PSYCHOLOGIE & KULTUR
HS12aware 21
certain parts of our inner experiences, which
the use of technical descriptive language cannot.
Aesthetic theorist John Ruskin saw art’s
role as a vessel to communicate essential truth
that could only be found in nature, and Tolstoy
saw art as indirect means of communication
from one individual to another. In his essays,
Freud notes that the artist places us in position
that allows us to enjoy our own fantasies without
shame or guilt. They are all correct and in
addition, art can help us to not feel so alone in
and with our experiences. A great work of art,
no matter its form, can allow us to recognize
aspects of our own inner lives and there – as
Tolstoy wrote – share our deep emotions with
others indirectly: with the person that created
the work, the person standing next to you and
with all the others who have recognized a part
of their own experience reflected in it.
Think of music’s capacity to affect your mood,
creating a space for you to dream in, to wallow
and echo your feelings, pump you up or slow
you down. Or when you recognize the screaming
face of Munch’s famous painting to be
the very reflection of your own momentary
crisis, and maybe how you acknowledge your
own longing for passion when looking at
Rodin’s Kiss.
If words are the structure for our communication,
then it is art that comes closest to fill the
blanks verbal language cannot breach. Art can
be understood as a window from your inner
life to mine, inviting us to catch a glimpse of
someone else’s inner being and realize that
they understand, connect with you, without having
to utter a single word.
Further readings:
Berger, J. (1972). Ways of seeing. London:
British Broadcasting Corporation and Penguin
Books.
Pirsig, M. R. (1999). Zen and the Art of Motorcycle
Maintenance: 25th Anniversary
Edition. London: Vintage.
Wurmser, L. (1990) The Mask of Shame.
Berlin: Springer-Verlag.