words are inert

"what is 'frustration'? or what is 'anger,' or 'love'? when i say 'love' the sound comes out of my mouth and hits the other person’s ear and travels through the byzantine conduit in their brain through their memories of love, or lack of love. they say they understand, but how do i know? because words are inert. they’re just symbols. they’re dead, you know? and so much of our experience is intangible. so much of what we perceive cannot be expressed. it’s unspeakable. and yet, you know, when we communicate with one another and we feel we have connected and think we’re understood i think we have a feeling of almost spiritual communion. that may be transient, but it’s what we live for." /waking life

modest mouse - a different city