benlehman: (Default)
benlehman ([personal profile] benlehman) wrote2004-01-19 01:55 am

(no subject)

Every word is an act of faith.

[identity profile] conspiratrix.livejournal.com 2004-01-19 03:56 pm (UTC)(link)
How do you figure? Or is it a quote?

I feel that I can give you some words that are definately not acts of faith. Why, even entire sentences.

But it's a very pretty sentiment.
evilmagnus: (Default)

[personal profile] evilmagnus 2004-01-19 04:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Soooo... was this a bud moment?
:)

[identity profile] psychotropek.livejournal.com 2004-01-19 05:35 pm (UTC)(link)
If by faith you mean 'usually drivel.'
At least mine are.

[identity profile] psychotropek.livejournal.com 2004-01-19 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
If by faith you mean 'usually drivel.'
At least mine are.

[identity profile] wirednavi.livejournal.com 2004-01-19 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
This is one of those sentences which sounds pretty and which I can, if I try, interpret in a deep and philosophical way. But it feels like I have to work slightly too hard at it, or perhaps that it's slightly too open to interpretation.

[identity profile] benlehman.livejournal.com 2004-01-20 02:51 am (UTC)(link)
Originally, the post had a long, poorly written screed which gave context to the line. I wrote it in a fit of philosophical angst, looked at it, decided (rightly) that it was drivel, but decided to keep that one line.

Oops.

yrs--
--Ben

P.S. I was going for something about the improbability of language, and the faith that a listener, somewhere, understands your meaning.

[identity profile] wirednavi.livejournal.com 2004-01-20 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
That's pretty much what I'd gotten out of it when I thought about it. Communication is funny stuff; when you think about all the things that can go wrong with it, it's hard to believe we ever get any meaning across, yet as far as I can tell from the evidence, we do it pretty well (albeit with a lot of metaphorical stammering and stuttering and making broad, amusing Grok-want-food gestures).

Re:

[identity profile] tnt-yow.livejournal.com 2004-02-09 12:32 am (UTC)(link)
I'm glad you let the sentence stand on its own, because it holds back from making a value-judgement on "faith".

I sometimes treat words as little daemons I order around to try and affect people (including myself). Sometimes they screw me over and sometimes they form something greater than my initial conception.