Language did not begin by naming objects such as “rock” and “tree”. That could not be possible. Firstly, to do so, a person would have to be able to think, “I need a name for _____”, but since language has not yet been invented, she or he could not articulate “I” “need” “a” “name” “for”. Secondly, and more important, the concepts of “rock” and “tree” cannot pre-exist their own terms. “Rock” and “tree” are classes of objects, invented by generalizing observed qualities which, when combined, produce “rocks” and “trees”. Rocks and trees did not exist until words made them. Rocks and trees do not really exist at all except as phantasms of language. No. All language began with proper names, not common names. An existing individual assigned a sound to a particular individual object. Language did not exist “for” communication, but rather for relationship. The relationship between the aware-unConscious and its own actions. However, since no distinction exists between the unConscious and its actions – the seemingly two things being in fact one unified phenomenon – it is better to replace “relationship” with “response-ability”. Language is a spontaneous vocal response-in-action. Each and every action that you (and I) make is RE… because our contextuality is inescapable. We never exist in a vacuum; we never initiate. There is no “beginning-point” in human thought, in human decision-making, in human action. Each of us is an ongoing REsponse-ability in action.
manifesto