The Unspeakable Level: Korzybski's Razor and Other Ways of Revealing (paperback)

The Unspeakable Level: Korzybski's Razor and Other Ways of Revealing by Christopher Mayer uses Korzybski's general semantics to explore various ways of revealing the swirl of events our language cannot capture.

The unspeakable level is Korzybski's term for that swirl of events language cannot fully capture. It is all that 'is.' Our abstractions-names, descriptions, etc.-often hide and obscure this unspeakable level. In this volume, the author looks at various ways to get behind these abstractions. Korzybski's Razor is one such tool, which knocks many lofty sounding terms off their pedestals. Another chapter explores the nature of polarities, drawing on insights from Meister Eckhart, Pseudo-Dionysius, Carl Jung and many others. Subsequent chapters, through the lens of Korzybski's general semantics, explore various ways of revealing; insights from dreams, Indian sages, Hermes Trismegistus, Christian mystics, Gurdjieff, alchemy, tarot and more. This brisk volume boldly pushes you to explore the boundaries of language, reach that unspeakable level and see the world with fresh eyes.

"Chris Mayer is one of our foremost and most innovative thinkers and writers working to advance and expand Alfred Korzybski's century-old project into the 21st Century. The author of now three books on general semantics, this new work, The Unspeakable Level, represents his attempt to speak/write about how our universe is so much more than we can ever know and understand, how we endeavor to understand and make meaning of it - including our own human impositions into it - what happens as we try to share what we think we understand, and how the GS approach might lighten our load and help us to live better, saner lives in the short time we are here. I could not put this book down until I was done."

—Thom Gencarelli, Professor of Communication, Sound & Media Arts, Manhattan University, and Editor, ETC: A Review of General Semantics

"In his playful and insightful book, THE UNSPEAKABLE LEVEL, Chris Mayer challenges us to recognize how what we "say" and what we "think" are just abstractions of what we mean to express. Words cannot express what we mean. They are only "verbal bubbles" as Korzybski notes, and "when they are pricked they burst and there is nothing left but to laugh." Mayer finds many voices who chime in on this idea. He is adept at telling stories from various profound philosophers, from George Gurdjieff to Alan Watts and many more in between. Stories are a way in to our skeptical American mindsets. Besides proving his argument on language with humor and (perhaps) common sense, we see what an amazingly prolific reader he is-indeed, the numerous authors and books he quotes are reason enough to read his book!"  

—Robin Levenson, PhD

Table of Contents: Foreword; Preface; CHAPTER ONE: Korzybski's Razor; CHAPTER TWO: Interlude: Dreams; CHAPTER THREE: Polarities; CHAPTER FOUR: Who Is This "I"?; CHAPTER FIVE: Interlude: Shadows; CHAPTER SIX: The World 'Out There'; CHAPTER SEVEN: Hermes Trismegistus; CHAPTER EIGHT: Reflections: Beyond Polarities, Beyond concepts; CHAPTER NINE: Mutus Liber: By Way of a Conclusion and a Way Forward; Bibliography; Index

Ebook edition also available soon.