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We see the physical world through a glaze; we hardly see the world in other words — we stumble through it; we’re in Plato’s cave. Most of life is trauma, survival instinct, fear. Very rarely are we able to even perceive in a neutral sense: without the hue of good or evil.
I watch a stylish French girl translate words on her phone. The word she looks up is “important” — which is funny because the French word is almost identical to the English word.
I wonder what she’s thinking. It’s hard to imagine someone else’s thoughts in a language that you yourself do not think in.
Does the experience of a French speaker on the subway differ greatly from — if at all — from that of an English speaker?
We experience the world through language, geography, biology—of the infinite lens through which we might experience the world, we only get to try on a few. It is almost criminal.
Infinity is infuriating for the finite mind.
