I was dreaming of being in a place that seemed to find the few of us survivors in a constant state of worry about our lives. It seemed rather dystopian.
It was abstract, though, as every interaction was steeped in the philosophical and existential. Perhaps being limited to such an extremely sparse existence brought into question the very nature of the reasons for living.
I trust you.
As I am waking up, I am examining the three ways this phrase can be employed — as in, it’s use in a particular circumstance or scene that required a deferment to someone who held sway in the next moments or days of our mutual survival or destruction. There was an air of somber heaviness.
It has at least three meanings/uses:
I trust you… to be you. In effect, the same as I don’t trust you. Because I know your character and your behavior patterns — or because I understand human nature, and am aware of the circumstance and how it has conditioned you; I trust that you will act in a certain way. An implicit, or perhaps duplicitous, manipulative trust.
I trust you — or rather, I entrust you; I inveigle you; I defer to you because I prefer not to be responsible for the decision. An explicit trust.
I trust you. I believe in you; I depend on you as my peer, my comrade, my brother, to stand beside me. An implicit, intimate, existential trust.
. . .
How we use and utilize language is fascinating to me. I’ve noticed changes in my language over the past decade — even in the past couple of years — given increased reading and research for my betterment, and for the improvement of this blog.
English, in particular (our modern lingua franca?), is at once a hodgepodge mess, the result of centuries of varied cultural influences, alternate spellings across commonwealths and past colonies, and the natural progression of changes in meanings and definitions. As an increasingly universal language, and with the advent of the ages of information and technology, it transmutes now again right before our eyes. Social media, text messaging, emojis… all of them altering our methods and styles of communication. One wonders what it’ll be like in the near future, given the move away from handwriting toward hands-free and voice-activated technology, and likely experiments in direct neural linkage. That’s a different and complex discussion; I think there is some confusion as to what is “better” for a human being: broader contextual and conscious awareness, or improved cognitive ability and function.
We live in interesting times.
Solvitur ambulando