What is it that I am aware of?
Any description of my awareness of the world may need to begin with a choice of language. English to me is the most common one to start from.
Our language shapes the way I perceive the world around me. It also directs the way I engage with that world. Through verbs, nouns and adjectives I figure out a way to understand it all. With these same words I manage to perform more or less conventional interactions in the world that are understood by myself and others.
The word world in etymology is derived from the Old English weoruld, said to mean 'age of man'. This ancient definition of the word points us to the temporal aspect of our awareness. That is to say: we live as much in time as we do in space. 'World' is also related to the German Welt and the Dutch wereld. Dutch happens to be language I have been brought up with.
I am attempting to formulate and interrogate the foundations of my everyday awareness of this world. I feel that these foundations are currently clouded by second-hand assumptions about what life is like. On top of that, I seem to keep repeating some mindless habitual behaviors.
To break out of these patterns - or to regain some perspective on them - I wish to illuminate the key building blocks that underlie and help construct my everyday awareness.
My feeling tells me that I am missing out on a common experience of life. Much more common than the English language for that matter.
What is it that we share through our use of language?
