If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
Ludwig WittgensteinRead
We are asleep. Our Life is a dream. But we wake up sometimes, just enough to know that we are dreaming.
Interpretation
Life is often an illusion, and we occasionally gain awareness of this truth.
In this quote, Wittgenstein suggests that our everyday existence might be akin to a dream, where we move through life without full awareness of its true nature. The moments when we become conscious of our surroundings and our actions can be seen as awakenings from this dream state, prompting reflection on the authenticity of our experiences and the reality of our lives.
In practice
In a philosophical discussion about the nature of reality, this quote can illustrate the concept of existential awareness.
If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world.
One cannot guess how a word functions. One has to look at its use and learn from that. But the difficulty is to remove the prejudice which stands in the way of doing this. It is not a stupid prejudice.
No one likes having offended another person; hence everyone feels so much better if the other person doesn't show he's been offended. Nobody likes being confronted by a wounded spaniel. Remember that. It is much easier patiently - and tolerantly - to avoid the person you have injured than to approach him as a friend. You need courage for that.
It's impossible for me to say one word about all that music has meant to me in my life. How, then, can I hope to be understood?
Nothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.
My day passes between logic, whistling, going for walks, and being depressed. I wish to God that I were more intelligent and everything would finally become clear to me - or else that I needn't live much longer.
To put it another way, pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. Why must it be pain? Why can't he rouse us more gently, with violins or laughter? Because the dream from which we must be wakened, is the dream that all is well.
It was the secrets of heaven and earth that I desired to learn.
The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other - until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country's official ideology.
"You were not born to be a second-hander." Howard Roark to Gail Wynand in "The Fountainhead"
Let us remember the large numbers of citizens who, day in and day out, through acts of volunteerism large and small, bring hope to so many of the world's disadvantaged. Let us ensure that this wonderful resource, available in abundance to every nation, is recognized and supported as it works towards a more prosperous and peaceful world.
Do you want to be a man of today or a man of tomorrow?
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