Our use of everyday language

Our use of everyday language should be mysterious, but familiarity hides the feeling of mystery. This book is a brief meditation on that mysterious activity.

The progression of the meditation

Building language outward from descriptions of the present moment, the meditation moves through our talk about space and time, to the realm of everyday thinking and science.

The enrichment through language

But language enriches us further--through communities of meaning (morality, art, mysticism) to transcendence (the universe, God, and self).

The cycle of familiarity and wonder

This meditation repeatedly cycles us from familiarity to wonder--about community, about consciousness, and ultimately about life itself.