What if you were the only person alive? In some inconceivable twist of fate, you were the sole Homo sapiens who survived the process of evolution. Far fetched, I know. But for the purpose of this article, I want you to imagine that scenario.
This Substack publication is named, “Deconstructionology”. Yes, it’s a term I invented. The root word is NOT destruction, which would be to annihilate something. Rather, the root is deconstruction, which means to disassemble something into its separate parts in order to understand it more deeply and meaningfully. The lived human experience is filled with all kinds of tensions, contradictions, nuances, lessons and complexities, which may not be apparent on the surface or through the lens through which we most familiarly see the world.
In this article I am beginning a discussion about the deconstruction of something that is critical and inseparable from every aspect of our lives. Our religious or philosophical beliefs, all our relationships, our health and well-being, and virtually every need and desire represented in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, ranging from basic survival to the actualization of our fullest potentialities and possibilities, are all dependent upon this thing I want to examine. Next to breathing, this may be the second most significant aspect of being human.
I admit, I can be a bit dramatic in my article sub-titles. “One Deconstruction to Rule Them All” is obviously a reference to the Lord of the Rings line, “One ring to rule them all”, symbolizing the Ring’s power to control all the other Rings of Power. Likewise, by truly grasping the pathway of deconstruction I am identifying in this series, all the other aspects of deconstruction will naturally follow. But without it, one’s deconstruction of anything will be difficult in ways it doesn’t need to be.
So, what is it? What is this “one deconstruction that rules them all”?
Language.
It doesn’t often occur to people that deconstructing language could be useful. Aren’t there all kinds of more important and interesting topics we should be talking about? What about discussing world poverty or the upcoming presidential election? Or how about the latest controversy in the Bridgerton series, or whether the Detroit Lions will ever make it to the Super Bowl again.
But language??? That time when someone asked you at a dinner party if you’d ever sat down and contemplated the hidden mysteries of language - NEVER!
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