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The 'Other Half' is the word. The 'Other Half' is an organism. Word is an organism. The presence of the 'Other Half' is a seperate organism attached to your nervous system on an air line of words can now be demonstrated experimentally. One of the most common 'hallucinations' of subject during sense withdrawal is the feeling of another body sprawled through the subject's body at an angle...yes quite an angle it is the 'Other Half' worked quite some years on a symbiotic basis. From symbiosis to parasitism is a short step. The word is now a virus. The flu virus may have once been a healthy lung cell. It is now a parasitic organism that invades and damages the central nervous system. Modern man has lost the option of silence. Try halting sub-vocal speech. Try to achieve even ten seconds of inner silence. You will encounter a resisting organism that forces you to talk. That organism is the word.

William S. Burroughs#45

ControlLanguageMediaPhilosophyConsciousness

About this quote

What does it mean?
Language is a parasitic organism that controls human thought and prevents true silence.
In plain terms
Words are a virus that forces us to keep thinking and talking.
What can you take from it?
Language shapes and constrains human consciousness deeply.

Where it applies

  • philosophy of language
  • media criticism
  • mental discipline

Putting it to work

  • critical reading
  • meditation

Questions to consider

  • How much of your thought is truly yours?
  • Can you escape the influence of language?

Another view

It is metaphorical and lacks empirical proof.

More from William S. Burroughs

  1. The mark of a basic shit is that he has to be right.

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  2. There couldn't be a society of people who didn't dream. They'd be dead in two weeks.

    Permalink to quote #46
  3. Survive, it's the name of the game. Would I give a shit about these people?

    Permalink to quote #43

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