Mediation of Truth

This is one of those questions: I thought it might be small, but its roots stretch deep into everything that I do. I don't have an answer; I don't even have the question, really. But I can point at its general direction, in three (or more?) rambly parts - I apologize this is far less polished than most things I blog about.

It first occurred to me, as I was writing a history paper: why should it be that I spend all this time reading so many different words that other authors invested so much time and energy to write, just to break down and unlock a handful of the concepts they disclose? Oftentimes if we were to try to summarize what we learned from a book it could be done in less than a tenth of the size we've read, and that's a generous estimation. Then, further, if I want to convey very simple concepts to someone else, I must write them in pages and pages for this reader of mine to have a reduced understanding of my reduced concepts gleaned from the author himself (who himself reduced his conception in writing).

I am no physicist, but this is hardly a closed system! Where does all this energy go? Why do we need all these words dedicated to the purpose to unlocking a concept that, once known, is quite clear and simple?

Wouldn't it make more sense if we could have access to the concept itself? And if, once grasped, we could communicate it to others in a few simple words, words proportionate to the simplicity of the truth we have grasped?

And yet it seems that in order to have access to the truth, it must be mediated. Truth may come to us, but not in itself. And so we need words, volumes and volumes of them. We need analysts, we need interpreters, we need historians, we need synthesizers, all to get at a simple concept.

Some words are better than others; some descriptions are better than others. Language can be an opaque medium, as when authors stumble over word choice and lack any sense of subtlety for grammar.

Or, language can be translucent - I don't think any medium can be crystal clear (but more on this later). An author can use words and images (a secondary kind of medium within the medium of language itself that also helps us understand a concept!) in a way that captures quite well the meaning he is trying to convey.

But apart from the infused knowledge of the divine, which we have no agency over, concepts in ourselves are alienated from us except through media of some kind.

(Yes, we will get to art... but not quite yet.)