Long Time Since...

I knew this would happen but I am glad I tried it anyway. I knew that I would break down and stop writing. But here I am again. I am posting a paper I wrote for a class. It is rather a sad excuse for a blog but I figured I would post something. Its rather a strange paper and I am not sure I agree with what I wrote 100% but it is interesting. Semiotics if you don't know is the study of signs.

Spiritual Semiotics

            If there were one perspective of inquiry, which I find to be relevant, it would be the semiotic. Language its self has a way of influencing the way we think and what we think. There is no thought or consciousness without words. A human who posses no language may indeed feel and sense the world around him but to truly be a part of the world around him it is necessary to posses a language. Language is what makes us human rather than animals.

            It is interesting to me to consider the semiotic perspective in the light of my belief in God. In a sense I have some to see God as a semiotitian. Not that God is a mere construction of language but that language has its origin in God. Gans and Clair both disagree heartily with my perspective and believe that the origin of language was through silence or violence.  In my explanation, based on the Bible, I see the origin of language as the beginning of all things. God spoke and so there was not only language but also the world that came into being. Signs in this model brought about the things they were to represent. A word made the sun and moon. A word caused the sea to be separate from the earth.            

            It is evident that God understands the inherent power of signs. The first commandment to Moses was that they should have not other gods and they were not to make an image of anything on earth and worship it. To attempt to turn God into a sign would have reduced him. God is the one for whom there is no image to be made. The Jews would not even write out his entire name because of this (In a similar vein I feel that the word “God” is quite inadequate.) This is a clear demonstration of the principles of semiotics. God understands that to allow himself to be made into a symbol would diminish him. “To whom will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him?” (Isaiah 40:18, English Standard Version) Signs are not the things they represent. No sign can in anyway come close to being the thing, which, it is a symbol of.

            Man is a symbol-using creature and by his nature gives things names. I attribute this to the divine origin of language. God named man, for he was the creator, man was given the animals to name for he was to rule over them. When it says that man was created in the image of God it may have a lot to do with the use of language. By the use of words and language, man creates new words, ideas and perspectives.

            I believe that God reveals himself to humanity primarily through words. This puts God at odds with semiotics. Words and signs are capable to conveying the truth, this makes them more than distant representations but vessels that can convey true meanings. God, however, in this perspective is the originator of language. When God speaks, he has authority as the creator of language. From my perspective God has spoken through out time. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in the last days he has spoken to us through his son.” (Hebrews 1:1-2, New International Bible)  This verse not only emphasizes God’s communication with man but also a shift in how he has communicated. God now speaks to man through Jesus Christ. In the book of John it talks about how Jesus is the “word” (1:1, New International Bible). Logos is the Greek word which is translated here. It is defined in many ways but the central idea here is what Christ is the manifestation of everything that is God. He is the divine reason. In a way, this describes the moment where a word becomes flesh. A sign has become the thing it represents. This presents impossibility from the semiotic perspective, but reveals what I would call the miracle of the incarnation.

            My perspective is not a true semiotic perspective. Yet, of all the perspectives I have studied this semester it has had the most relevance to me. The idea that signs create our realities, whether you buy the religious stuff or not, explains a lot about the world. Language is the single most important factor in creating out everyday reality. Language mediates our every thought and deed. My perspective of inquiry is simply that one may come to know the creator of language