There’s a moment in the novel Flatland¹ after the Square comes back from his foray into the 3D world — the land of Cubes — and he’s trying to remember what it was like.

The memory fades, so he clings to the only phrase he can think of to describe it:

“Up, but not north.”

(As a 2-D shape, as on a map or in a comic, “up” is synonymous with “north.”)

It’s imperfect, and nobody else in Flatland knows what it means. But it’s enough to help him remember that there are more than two dimensions, even if he’s lost the ability to conceive of them.

Have you ever tried to describe an idea that’s totally new and different?

A concept or a feeling that defies language?

It’s extraordinarily difficult. So many of our understandings come from relating new ideas to old ones.

I see this happen with “big” feelings, the most human parts of our experience:

Grief.
Love.
Loneliness.
Joy.
Loss.
Being understood.
Understanding something that changes everything.

When we try to describe these big, ineffable things, it can be hard not to fall into tired cliches. Such as:

– I love you with all my heart
– I’m bursting with joy
– I miss you from the bottom of my heart
– I’m walking on sunshine
– How new meat always tastes like chicken.

Behind those phrases are real, physical, vivid experiences.

Yet words often flatten what they try to explain.

*

If you’re trying to express the inexpressible: keep writing.

Keep trying. Even if it sounds like gibberish at first.

Don’t fall back on old phrases.

Even if it’s imperfect, write what is real to you.

More importantly:

Keep looking for that feeling.

It’s one of the realities of being human that language can determine our experiences. It can express them, sure, but they can also limit them.

Our vocabulary – and moreover, our worldview – can only expand and deepen if we encounter ideas that stretch our mind in new directions.

If we keep looking for those new directions.

Up, but not north.

1. Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbott. If you haven’t already read it, I could not recommend it more. ↩︎

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