Of course, from what we have said before, such a language was true and righteous; I also conclude that it was magical. This is a much-derided term from the scientific point of view, which is itself bedazzled by the idea of “progress”; for when we say magical thinking, we usually mean wishful thinking, unreal thinking, or fantasy.
But we recognize the magic in language whenever we start using words like “spell.” Nina Simone, for example, sang, “I Put a Spell on You,” and we know what that means. Hypnotists put us under a spell, oftentimes to help overcome fears and phobias or to heal real illnesses. And we are all aware that an evil such as voodoo is based on spells and that people die as a result. We talk of autosuggestion as a powerful way in which language seems to work magic on our very selves.
Pointing at the Object
But I mean more than simply language is entrancing when I say it is magical. The word “spell” here is especially interesting, for language is a spell in another sense. It’s a spell because it is made up of letters that we designate to represent sounds in an alphabet. In other words, spelling is a structure and through it meaning comes into being.The jumble of reality—of seemingly random sounds—starts taking shape, and with taking shape starts pointing to something beyond itself. When somebody points at something, we humans don’t look at the finger pointing, but at the object toward which the pointing is done. In other words, we look at an object or reality “out there” that our awareness is being drawn to by the pointing.
This happens, of course, with language, which is like pointing; it is a similar representational act. So what we have to consider is how much more it happened in that aboriginal past or past golden age. In a play like “Macbeth,” we see magic being used—through a language of spells that three witches invoke through incantation—to create the future; it’s a future, in particular, that the character Macbeth wants to believe. But this usage is a simulacrum of the potency of that earlier language whereby the language not only points toward but also summons into existence that which was not.
We see this again and again in myths and fairy stories; language brings into existence that which was not. For example, Pygmalion, through the words of prayer to the goddess, brings his beloved statue to life. In the modern retelling by George Bernard Shaw (on which the “My Fair Lady” musical was based), it is by language again that a working-class cockney girl can pass herself off as—indeed, become to all intents and purposes—a duchess or princess; she has been transformed into a new life through the creativity of language.
The Supreme Power of Language
Perhaps the greatest example of the power of language to call into existence is given in John’s Gospel. Here we learn that the cosmos itself is “spelled” into existence. The “Word” was in the beginning and through Him all things, it says, were made. Consider too that Adam, in the beginning, was called to name (that is, to spell) the animals and in this way to exercise power over them, for words of power produce real effects.
Our Regression
But what of our initial topic, Progress? If we are progressing, it is hard to see evidence of it. Economist Alan Reynolds, as reported in MoneyWeek, said: “We believe problems that are identified can be solved. This is our modern faith.” Here is a further instance of the myth of progress. Reynolds continues: “The truth, however, is more bleak. … our art and music are getting progressively more stupid and our environment is on the brink of collapse.”The anti-progress that is occurring in arts and music—artistic languages that can profoundly put a spell on us—reflect our cultural decline. “While scientific and technical advances over the last two centuries have greatly improved the comfort and length of our lives, they have facilitated no comparable moral progress,” says psychoanalyst James Hollis.
The reality is that there is no progress; we are in fact regressing. Progressive philosophies debase language, and the net result of this is to enable politicians to persistently say things “that are not” and remain unchallenged, or unembarrassed even, because there is no language or discourse that has sufficient power anymore to expose what is happening and re-spell us into truth and righteousness.
Where Regression Leads
In order to regain some form and power in our language and “spelling,” we need, instead of talking about progress, to talk about what is right, absolutely right. That would be a start. Should we do this, however, we will certainly meet massive opposition, for the progressive movement has its own progress moguls whose livelihoods depend on their lying fictions.Referring to Dante’s poem “The Divine Comedy,” Timothy Radcliffe (in his book “What Is the Point of Being a Christian?”) observed that “the icy heart of hell is kept for those who undermined the human community of truth: the liars, the fraudulent, the flatterers, the forgers, and worst of all the traitors.” This judgment is as true now as it was in Dante’s poem and day.
Wisely, John F. Kennedy advised: ‘Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democrat answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
Instead, the progress brigade will attempt to obscure all that is right by all that is wrong, and language will be its primary means. They will say things like, “What do you mean by right?” or “Who says what is right?” or “Right is just a value judgment” or “It all depends” or “Right is what is right for you.” And so it goes on. They are killing society as they undermine that “human community of truth.” As they scramble for anarchism and evermore equality, all that this leads to, ultimately, is totalitarianism.
For that is where it finally ends. The spelling doesn’t go away because it has been debased and corrupted. Unless we actively resist this contamination of language, these ideological un-truths of progress and the like, we become prey to the liars.
