languagematter and spirit. The Advaita Vedānta position represents a non-dualism
or monism because the aspirant realizes the absolute identity between
Brahman (highest reality) and the Ātman (self) that is mutually defined
as being, consciousness, and bliss. This type of intuitive knowing leads
to liberation from the world and the cycle of existence because a person
becomes identical to the single universal reality, while the Daoism type
of knowledge leads to an aspirant becoming one with the universal Dao,
mother and ancestor of everything that exists. By knowing the Dao, the
sage becomes identified with it and assumes its attributes, which results
in a state of namelessness, selflessness, changelessness, and speechless-
ness, and recognizes the unity within the multiplicity, or to see all things
as one.
According to Jean-François Lyotard, a leading postmodern thinker,
the quintessential form of knowledge is narrative, which reflects sensitiv-
ity to differences, enables us to tolerate the incommensurable, and is not
an oppressive instrument of authorities. From Lyotard’s perspective, this
situation is a crisis that he traces to societies during the post-industrial
age and cultures entering the postmodern period when knowledge – sci-
entific, narrative, and common sense – becomes altered in such a way
that it becomes a commodity to be produced and sold to consumers.
When knowledge becomes a matter of production, this scenario pos-
sesses major consequences because it ceases to be an end in itself.Further reading: Dubuisson (2003); Lyotard (1985); Olson (2005, 2007)LANGUAGE
Human beings find themselves within a language that allows them to
communicate with each other and to express their inner feelings and
thoughts. Some of humankind’s languages are considered sacred, such
as Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, or Sanskrit. Within a religious context, lan-
guage is used in ritual, prayer, praise of a divine being, confession,
magical spells, cursing, chanting, and other forms, because in many
instances it is believed to possess a power to transport messages or to
make something happen in the case of a performative utterance. In the
past century, the scholarly study of language developed semiotics, the
science of signs, and semantics, the science of the sentence. Some theo-
ries of language reject these sciences of language because they do not
address language as it is lived and used by people.