Korzybski's Legacy (2012): What 'Is' it? How Do We Carry It On?

I presented this a year ago at the 2011 Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture Weekend Conference in New York City. What I said about the state of general semantics and the Institute still holds. Since the 2012 conference is coming up, this seems like a good time to re-post this for anyone with an interest in the condition of Korzybski's legacy today.  Click right here to link to the downloadable file: Korzybski's Legacy...

From the Stray Thought Bin - "Thinking About Thinking"

My endless inquiring makes it possible for me to achieve something at any given date— I get to think about my own thoughts of the situation in which I find myself. 

I even think that I think of it. 

This gives me the power of flexibility to go with change. 

I embrace the infinite progressive sequence of abstracting myself to a higher level of abstraction, of mapping a map, mapping myself, a process I seek to continue indefinitely. 

I don't call a halt to the process, because I momentarily have to stop at a given point in it. 

I accept the 'infinite' and accept that though I'm a part of it, I can't possess it. 

I don't identify myself with one fixed point along the way. 

I look 'down' from my viewpoint at a date and appreciate the  broader view. 

Because I  don't reject the  knowledge that I do have because it always has some degree of uncertainty, I take courage. 

I can pinch my finger. 

I can feel my breath.

I can feel the ground beneath my feet. 

It is not words. 

Whatever I say it 'is', is not it.