Succinct,

 

The word succinct comes from Latin, succinctus, which means, contracted, short, concise; but also, prepared, ready, from succingere, to tuck up, to gird from below; and, in transferred use, to equip, to provide or furnish. Succingere, comes from sub + cingere, sub, meaning up from under and cingere, cinch, meaning, gird about, with armor, to be armed, prepared and tuck up loose clothes or tighten one’s belt for action. In later English form succinctly, means brevity of something said, concise language, compressed in a small compass or few words.

 

In their journals, scientists write, in principle, about their theories, as succinctly as possible. They go by Occam’s Razor, also known as the Principle of Parsimony, which is the idea, that more straightforward explanations are, in general, better. Novacula Occami, also Latin, is the problem-solving principle – Lex Parsimoniae – that recommends searching for explanations constructed with the smallest set of elements. There is also the Latin phrase, Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem, which can be translated as, entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity, or, in more popular language, the simplest explanation is usually the best one.

 

Although I can be – as my blog writings and my many You Tube videos (Maximus Peperkamp or maximuspeperkamp-hw8sw) show – and like to be elaborate about the distinction between Disembodied Language (DL) – our unconscious, usual, ineffective way of dealing with language – and Embodied Language (EL), we can’t get any more succinct, than by stating: DL-speakers don’t listen to themselves, while EL-speakers always listen to themselves while they speak.  

 

Anyone with knowledge about science as well as the right, inquisitive, open attitude, should be able to acknowledge, that, EL is a succinct and, therefore, scientific way of speaking, while DL – in which speakers do not pay any attention to how they sound, because they are carried away by what they say; I call it verbal fixation – is not parsimonious, is biased, and, consequently, unscientific, although all scientists talk this way.  

 

Intelligence is the beauty, which is found and felt in the simplicity of our language, when we listen to ourselves while we speak and engage in EL. Our EL is based on the irrefutable simple fact, that we can all produce a sound, while we speak, which we like to and want to hear. The voice which we have during ongoing EL, makes us feel good. We keep expressing the sound of our wellbeing regardless of what we are saying.  

 

The previous paragraph reminds me of the One Note Samba, a beautiful Brazilian melody, that  was composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim and made famous by Frank Sinatra. There is a similarity – I would say a connection – between the musical simplicity or the succinctness of Bossa Nova and EL. In this genre, particularly in this marvelous song, just one single melodic line is followed. Thus, the entire melody can be played by one note, in the same way. Similarly, the most wonderful conversation will unfold, if we keep following the healing sound of our EL.

 

Here are the lyrics of One Note Samba. You can also listen to this song if you use this link:

Frank Sinatra With Antonio Carlos Jobim – One Note Samba (Samba De Uma Nota So) (youtube.com)

This is just a little samba, built upon a single note
Other notes are bound to follow but the root is still that note
Now this new one is the consequence of the one we've just been through
As I'm bound to be the unavoidable consequence of you

 

There's so many people who can talk, and talk, and talk
And just say nothing or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know
And at the end I've come to nothing or nearly nothing

 

So I come back to my first note as I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note, all the love I feel for you
Anyone who wants the whole show, re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do
He will find himself with no show, better play the note you know

 

There's so many people who can talk and talk, and talk
And just say nothing or nearly nothing
I have used up all the scale I know
And at the end I've come to nothing, I mean nothing

 

So I come back to my first note, as I must come back to you
I will pour into that one note all the love I feel for you
Anyone who wants the whole show, re-mi-fa-so-la-si-do
He will find himself with no show, better play the note you know

 

Songwriters: Newton Ferreira De Mendonca, Antonio Carlos Brasileiro De Almeida Jobim.

 

I listened to Frank Sinatra, but didn’t like it. I like Joao Gilberto’s version with Herbie Mann much better. Best Of Vintage Brazilian Songs (youtube.com)  There is nothing minimalistic about this relaxing music, but since people are used to DL, they call it that, because it diffuses noisy complexity. It makes us feel. In that sense, it is to the point. It takes us back to the basics. It exposes the meaningless chaos we are used to, which is expected to continue with our DL. In DL we manipulate, distract, obfuscate and fabricate, but we aren’t talking straight…

 

We only begin to make sense of what we say, if we listen to ourselves, while we speak, so that we can finally recognize the huge difference in the sound of our own voice, the difference in our energy or our vibration, during our DL or EL.

To put it, once more, very succinctly, in DL we remain fearful, but in EL, we talk without having any fear. Our intelligence is only expressed in EL, but since we are – due to our conditioning history – used to DL, we totally misunderstand what is our own intelligence. It is interesting to note – pun intended – in this famous song, the lyrics further enhance the meaning of this tune.

 

As in so many other songs, the words describe a longing for love, which seems unattainable and unreachable. However, amazingly, the beauty and simplicity of this music, tells us a different story. By juxtaposing the easiness of this calm melody with the complex emotions conveyed by the lyrics, we can sense Jobim’s genius. After all, isn’t it love, what it’s all about? And when will we take note (!) of that message? Yes, you probably guessed it correctly: when we have ongoing EL.

 

With DL we can’t express love, therefore, we remain in the dark about the most important experience of our life. This has had – and will continue to have – catastrophic consequences. With EL, however, we can speak with love and, thus, attain our Language Enlightenment (LE).

 

When I say --- WE --- I mean, the listeners, who, instead of listening to the music from someone else, are listening to their own music, which is the sound of their voice. Only the EL-speakers are able to capture this universal feeling of love, which is desired, but which is not embodied, as long as DL is going on. 

The bittersweet flavor of love songs, of course, could only capture our attention for a limited amount of time, before we go on again with, presumably, other more important matters. We may occasionally still listen to the expression of our intelligence, but our daily involvement in DL determines, that we forget about love and at best fantasize about it.

 

Art, in its many forms, supposedly, reminds us again of beauty, love, purity, tranquility, truth and meaning, however, anyone with EL knows, we are just fooling ourselves with the belief, for a brief moment, we pay attention, to who we really are. Bossa Nova combines Samba and elements of Jazz with a laid-back musical style. The soothing quality of the One Note Samba is the result of a range of emotions, which emerge because of the honesty of what we can feel.

 

We would all like to experience, our longing for love would be fulfilled, but unless our language creates and maintains a serene way of life, we will remain trapped by our unfulfilled longings. The Buddhists say that all life is suffering, and they try to end suffering by meditating, but I say, life is suffering because of DL. Only if we can have ongoing EL, will there be an end to our suffering and will we attain our LE, which is, to put it succinctly, the understanding, that there is and never was language inside of us. DL is the attention-demanding, unnatural, unintelligent language of our unfulfilled longings, a sense of sentimental nostalgia for something that never was there in the first place. As the lyrics of One Note Samba illustrate, our usual way of talking, DL, is always about the other, the object of our love, but in EL, we return to ourselves when we speak, and we hear and act on our intelligence. I hope this writing was succinct enough for you.