Validity,

 

There are, of course, limitations, which life itself imposes on each of us. Someone may be high on drugs and believe, he or she can fly, but if such a person jumps off a roof, he or she will certainly fall to his or her death. Likewise, millions of people may be fanatically convinced, they are all very special or chosen, because they are praying to, talking with or even listening to their so-called higher power, but their superstitious reality is, they live in a childish fantasyland. The validity of our concept of reality depends always on how we deal with our language.

 

Reliability and validity are essential concepts in research, especially when designing studies or interpreting results. I have always approached the gigantic difference between Disembodied Language (DL) – our usual unconscious way of dealing with language as a group – and our Embodied Language (EL) – the conscious language of the individual – as a scientific issue. Only our EL can be considered as scientific speech, but our common, automatic DL is hopelessly biased, and, therefore, unscientific speech. Reliability refers to the consistency of a measurement or test. It assesses whether the same method, technique or test produces consistent results when repeated under similar conditions. Surely, our EL is neither a method, technique or test, as it is our natural way of talking with the sound of our wellbeing, yet our EL is absolutely reliable, as it consistently yields positive outcomes. Validity assesses how accurately a method measures what it is intended to measure. If a test accurately measures a particular skill, it demonstrates high validity. Validity is the quality of being logically or factually sound. The soundness or cogency of our EL is self-evident, that is, you can’t really miss it. If you doubt, whether you have EL, you are not having it. In EL, we are without any doubt. High reliability often indicated validity, that is, if a test produces accurate results, they should be reproduceable. Although EL is certainly not a test, but merely our natural, effortless way of dealing with language, it is reproduceable, as anyone who speaks with and listens to him or herself, will find out about the great difference between their DL and their EL.  

 

One doesn’t need to be a hopeless junkie or some humorless ascetic, to live a superficial, meaningless, unintelligent life. Sadly, since everyone, engages, almost permanently, stubbornly, in DL, our false beliefs, generally speaking, proliferate from the cradle to the grave. Indeed, we are conditioned and the only reason for us, to ever move beyond our conditioning history, is a different way of dealing with our language. Obviously, first, our mechanical DL must be stopped, before our EL can even begin to occur. Thus, we can only finally begin to use our language correctly, when we fully acknowledge, our incorrect use of our language has been disastrous.

 

Our astonishingly, destructive, tenacious ignorance isn’t – as we can read in the publications of clever psychologists – a matter of a lack of appropriate scientific or philosophical training, but rather, it is the habit, we have, to not listen to ourselves, while we speak. Regardless how knowledgeable we have become, our lack of self-listening is still the missing link in all our knowledge, since our self-knowledge can only be acquired, if we talk with and listen to ourselves. Of course, such overt self-talk will only occur to the extent, we find it more important than so-called thinking, our imaginary covert language. Furthermore, our talking, out loud, with ourselves and by ourselves, will only happen, when we sense that all our talking with others, is unreal and phony.

 

The validity of our ongoing EL doesn’t depend on our agreement with others, but on our agreement with ourselves, that is, on the match between our experience and our use of language. During DL, we put the horse – our language – behind the wagon – our experience. Consequently, there cannot be any congruence, between our language and experience, because our language regulates and determines all our behavior. Moreover, it is overt language – not, non-existent, impossible, inner speech or thought – which causes our desirable behavior to increase and our undesirable behavior to stop or decrease. Thus, the self-evident validity of the revealing, powerful process of listening to ourselves while we speak, can only be denied, by not listening to ourselves, while we speak. In other words, DL and EL are mutually exclusive. Once we begin to listen to ourselves, while we speak, DL will stop, and EL will continue.

 

Anyone can understand and acknowledge, that our brains mediate – but do not contain – our language. If we suffer from a stroke, our language production or comprehension is impaired, because our brains have been damaged. Any recovery from such an event requires overt speech therapy. Our language doesn’t mysteriously emerge from inside of us, but it occurs due to antecedent environmental stimuli. Babies born in Rome, learn to speak only in Italian – not Chinese – and, thus they do as the Romans do.

 

When we say, brains interpret stimuli – in terms of whether they are threatening or safe – it is not our brains, which use language, but it is due to outgoing air of our lungs, going over our vocal cords and our lips and tongue moving, that we speak a language. It isn’t until words come out of our mouth, we can hear ourselves or someone else speak. Likewise, it isn’t until someone has written something, as words in this text, that a reader can read what was written. Thus, there exists no such a thing as mind-reading, as there is no mind, as our language is always overt.

 

With our EL, we are, at long last, capable of talking as individuals, about the validity, truth, joy, energy and meaning of our behaviorally created model of reality. There is no me, inside of me, who makes me say what I say or causes or coordinates my behavior. There is no validity, to an inner behavior-regulating agent, but with DL, we keep assuming its existence. Moreover, our utterly false, profoundly problematic, verbal identity, creates a myriad of other convoluted models, which will only be abandoned, when our DL is stopped. However, our DL was never stopped by more of the same dumb, dull, forceful, reactive DL. To stop DL, requires EL. Only when we can talk with EL about our conditioning with DL, will our DL stop.

 

Stated differently, we inevitably engage in DL, due to our conditioning history, as our neural behavior was previously affected only in such a way, that we could speak – as in the previous example – Italian, but not Chinese. Only different – overt – Chinese stimuli, can and will bring about the so-called learning of this other language. Only once our neural structure has been sufficiently affected by such environmental stimuli, can we – without having language inside of us – react appropriately, in a Chinese manner, to a Chinese speaker, by speaking the Chinese language.

 

The saying, the proof is in the pudding, refers to the configuration of our neural structure, which must have occurred, once we can hear, experience and be aware of the enormous difference between our DL and EL, because our DL has stopped, and we can now effortlessly continue with our EL. We are in total bliss, when this is the case, and we experience our EL as a novel form of happiness and a source of understanding and wellbeing. Immediate as well as long-term positive effects of our EL are so tangible. We can’t miss, we are truly ourselves. Indeed, our Language Enlightenment (LE) is due to ongoing EL. However, it is very important to acknowledge, that we have achieved this new way of responding, due to the rearrangement of environmental stimuli. We have controlled and stopped our DL, so that our EL and LE could be expressed and become clear to us.

 

There is no doubt or fear, when we engage in EL, as we experience an environment, which is free from aversive stimuli. Magnificently, we ourselves create and maintain this environment. Our ongoing EL is the most supreme form self-management. With our EL, we can finally behave as an individual, who is no longer inhibited or troubled by the DL, which instills fear-based, inherently, punitive, group-behavior. In effect, with our EL, but also with our DL, we behave our own individually experienced reality. However, with our DL, we, inadvertently, behave a conflicted, chaotic, negative environment, but with our EL, we continue to modify our neural structure, in such a manner, that our reality is peaceful, clear, positive and stable. The discriminative way of behaving, that allows us to stop our DL, so we can express, hear and act on, what we say to ourselves with EL, is made possible by listening to ourselves while we speak. We hear in the sound of our voice, if we engage in DL or EL. The validity of our assessment is always evident in the consequences of our actions.