Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Nonverbal










      "Incidentally, there are people who seem completely staggered whenone talks about nonverbal referential processes – that is, wordless thinking;these people simply seem to have no ability to grasp the idea that a great dealof covert living – living that is not objectively observable, but onlyinferable – can go on without the use of words.  The brute fact is, as Isee it, that most of living goes on that way.  That does not in any sensereduce the enormous importance of the communicative tools – words andgestures." 



Harry StackSullivan – 


TheInterpersonal Theory of Psychiatry, New York, Norton, 1953 









 *Paintings by Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin.  Upper:  Girl WithRacket and Shuttlecock, 1737, Uffizi Gallery, Florence; Lower: The House of Cards,1736-7, National Gallery, London.



** This post isdedicated to “half-Leapling” and badminton artist Jane Butler Robertson her fourth half-birthday, 2-29-12.   It may be a matter of pure coincidence thatJane taught her parents, who were never great silent movie fans, to appreciateCharlie Chaplin’s early artistry when she was very young and stillnonverbal.   In the nicest possible way, Jane still renders me speechless most of the time.

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