Yes, this is pretty much exactly what happens. It's the map-territory problem, but with every single word. We have rough agreements on what some words mean. Easy enough with what we take to be solid objects. This X is a cross, like two objects intersecting. Yes, we know what X is. Okay, now do the same thing to every word in this sentence. And then again to every word in this sentence. Oh... how about subjective experiences? Love. Sadness. What are those? How did you come to think of those words when describing love? Were you born with language? You don't inherently know what anything is. You just have a bunch of code in your head.
thank you thank you. I'm not a fan of Christianity, mainly because of the kind of Christians most people imagine when they think about conservatives. But after I got into Zen Buddhism, I heard some of Jesus' teachings and understood them in a different light. I don't even know if Jesus was a real person or not, I know there's a lot of motivation to push that idea though. But that's all besides the point. His teachings are generally beneficial for human well-being. If people live by them, and embody them, there's good chance of a fairly healthy community. Not sure if this is actually a quote from Buddha (which is, again, besides the point) but people think so:
"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared."
Yes, this is pretty much exactly what happens. It's the map-territory problem, but with every single word. We have rough agreements on what some words mean. Easy enough with what we take to be solid objects. This X is a cross, like two objects intersecting. Yes, we know what X is. Okay, now do the same thing to every word in this sentence. And then again to every word in this sentence. Oh... how about subjective experiences? Love. Sadness. What are those? How did you come to think of those words when describing love? Were you born with language? You don't inherently know what anything is. You just have a bunch of code in your head.