"Talking is Lying"

 "Talking is Lying"- (paraphrased from the Tao: "the Tao that can be spoken is not the true Tao.")

Does thinking require words? Words are a technology that has pretty much created civilization. This super technology allows us to transmit very precise information to each other, and store and build upon previous thoughts. 

Interestingly, some people who were born deaf and did not learn any sort of language until adulthood report having few memories of what they feel as a dark, ignorant time in their life. Similarly, most of us can't recall much from our babyhood, probably because we just didn't file it in language.

And then there are the stories of children who grew up without language because were raised by animals or had some other extremely rare circumstance. These children often seem to have strange telepathic powers to communicate their wants to people in civilization. These rare human cases are similar to that of my cat, who has no difficulty making you think you want to do her bidding, despite her limited vocabulary.

Do we all "think" in pictures before we learn words? Some of us still know how, even when the chatty and flamboyant celebrity of language struts into the brain and starts making small talk. I know I can, and still do this, but maybe we all do, and it's so built in under, that we don't notice unless we really pay attention. Like just because you can't hear your heart beating, doesn't mean it's not.

What is it then, that we do, those of us who are aware of our thinking before it clothes itself in words? Does understanding precede thought formation? What is this awareness, this thing we know with, we experience with, before we strap ourselves into this hot rod racer of language and take off with a deafening roar?