“And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.”
(Genesis 2:7)
In order to understand this concept [Those words in this Verse: “…a living soul”], let us turn to the autobiography of Helen Keller, the famous girl who was born both blind and deaf. She describes to us the great difference – in our terms, the “singularity” – between her status before she discovered the concept of speech, which led her to the concept of thought, and her feeling of revelation and enlightenment when she discovered the concept of the word, which was also the revelation of her humanity.
“She (that is, her teacher, Mrs. Sullivan) brought me my hat, and I knew that we would go outside to the warm sun. This thought – if a wordless feeling can be called thought – made me jump and dance around out of joy.
“We went down the path to the well, where I was drawn by the scent of the honeycombs that surrounded it. Somebody was drawing water, and my teacher put my hand under the spout. While the cool water flowed on my hand, my teacher spelled out on my other hand the word w-a-t-e-r. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, I stood without moving, with all my senses concentrating on the movement of her hand. Suddenly, I felt an unclear awareness, almost like a memory of something that I once knew but had forgotten. It was like the feeling of a thought that had come awake. And suddenly, somehow, the mystery of language was revealed to me. I knew that the letters w-a-t-e-r meant something cool and wonderful that was flowing onto my fingers. The living word woke up my soul, gave me light, hope, and joy; it gave me freedom!
“I came back from the well, with excited anticipation to learn more. Everything had a name, every name gave birth to a new thought. When we returned home, every object that I touched seemed to vibrate with vitality. I saw everything with the new sight that had been given to me.”
It is not hard to find examples of learning in the animal kingdom, but this is very different from the phenomenon of learning by mankind. In man, there is a certain unique element. This is a learning process based on concepts. It is not just based on memories of events that were useful in the past; rather, it is a new development.
The girl, who was deaf and dumb and also blind, lived in a world without ideas, because it had no language. She knew very well how to make a connection between the hat that her teacher brought her and the fact that she would soon go on an outing, which made her feel good. But could that anticipation of an outing be considered an act of thinking? And that is why she commented when looking back later on, “if a wordless feeling can be called thought.” Who else alive was such a perfect witness to the change, to the essential “singularity” between her pre-language state and her subsequent language-thinking status? Only when the forgotten experience of language was suddenly revealed to her was she able to return in such a dramatic way to the forgotten world of thought.
And we are not talking merely about a new medium to be used for marking information that rises up out of a whirlwind of the senses. Thought and speech are a hint of a dimension that lies beyond the physical senses, as is emphasized above with the use of the words light and sight.
But this has nothing to do with physical light or with a physical sense that Keller had before this incident. Rather, a whole new world of light and seeing that are not physical opened up before her. And what opened up this new dimension for her was the concept of a word. Written and spoken words are able to light up the eyes of the spirit and to open them. The more a picture is enlightening, clear, and expressive, the more the concept of a word and a name provide focus, clarity, and enlightenment, and the more depth there is. Speech and thought are not simply “a study of the physical world” but rather serve as a gateway to the realm of the spirit, which is beyond the physical world. And this is the main difference between mankind and the animal kingdom, as is declared by one of the greatest Jewish commentators, Rashi On the above verse: “…and man became a living soul:
“Cattle and beasts were also called living souls, but this one
Rashi On the above verseof man is the most alive of themall, because he was additionally given intelligence and speech.”
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This is only the first diferent between Human being and Animals, to see more difrences click here
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Awakening to a greater reality, one that truly exists but beyond the simple sights and sounds and physical senses…requires clear concepts for sure! I pray we learn greater awareness.
This is true. Thank you 🙂