Symbolic Interactionism (The Shared Dream)

We use words like friend or love so we can share our inner worlds with each other. It is like we are all playing a giant game of connect the dots. When I say a word, a picture pops up in your head, and now we are looking at the same thing! This is the magic of being human — we use little sounds to send our thoughts through the air into someone else's brain. It makes us feel less alone.

We use little sounds to send our thoughts through the air into someone else's brain. Right now I am making shapes on a screen. And those shapes are becoming pictures in your head. And those pictures are creating feelings in your body. Shapes to pictures to feelings. Across distance. Across time. A dead person can write a sentence and make a living person cry a thousand years later. That is telekinesis. That is time travel. That is what language actually is. Not communication. Transmission. The transfer of one consciousness into another. We are not just talking. We are haunting each other. Beautifully. Permanently. With little sounds and little shapes that carry the entire weight of being alive.

Symbolic interactionism: meaning is created through social interaction, not inherent in objects. Language is the primary medium for constructing shared reality. We are not just talking. We are haunting each other. Beautifully. Permanently.

SOUND: A crowd of people laughing at the same joke: the sound of a shared dream happening in real time.

SMELL: A holiday dinner everyone is excited for: the scent of a meaning the group agreed on together.

TASTE: Sharing a pizza and everyone agreeing it is good: consensus arriving through the tongue.

TOUCH: A high-five that means great job: the skin transmitting a symbol.

SIGHT: A stop sign and everyone knowing what to do: a shared hallucination that keeps us alive.

BODY: Dancing in a group and moving in the same rhythm: the body joining a collective dream through motion.

Music: 46 & 2 by Tool

Part of Language & Thought — CONSCIOUSNESS — Education Revelation