Revgrant, Not to be too reductive, but in the words of Wittgenstein,--"the limits of my language are the limits of my world." I think Salamun's meaning is something closer to your second idea i.e. the Word made flesh, the Word made brick or beauty or a tugboat, etc. But it's also the notion of language -- its use -- as an inherently creative/constructive activity. Your point that language is also the source of much that's awful/hurtful in the world is well taken, but of course that would be a particular kind of mis-use of language (an unethical, rather than a poetic one, let's say)(poetry is itself a mis-use of ordinary language to create aesthetic effects, but not necessarily -- I would say not usually -- an unethical one). In any case, the idea that language is the instrument of god (however one might define god) is the idea that language has the potential to save us from the chaos and senselessness of being...
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Revgrant, Not to be too reductive, but in the words of Wittgenstein,--"the limits of my language are the limits of my world." I think Salamun's meaning is something closer to your second idea i.e. the Word made flesh, the Word made brick or beauty or a tugboat, etc. But it's also the notion of language -- its use -- as an inherently creative/constructive activity. Your point that language is also the source of much that's awful/hurtful in the world is well taken, but of course that would be a particular kind of mis-use of language (an unethical, rather than a poetic one, let's say)(poetry is itself a mis-use of ordinary language to create aesthetic effects, but not necessarily -- I would say not usually -- an unethical one). In any case, the idea that language is the instrument of god (however one might define god) is the idea that language has the potential to save us from the chaos and senselessness of being...
I thought god was the instrument
;)
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