The Language of E-Prime

E-Prime is the English language without the use of "is" or "being" We are trapped within Language constructs. "All that is, is metaphor." "We can't get beyond words, so we must become more cynical about our words." - RAW

"E-Prime, short for English-Prime, is a modified form of English. It uses very slightly simplified syntax and vocabulary, eliminating all forms of the verb to be: be, is, am, are, was, were, been and being (and their contractions). Sentences composed in E-Prime seldom contain the passive voice, which in turn may force the writer or speaker to think differently (compare the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis). By eliminating most uses of the passive voice, E-Prime encourages writers and speakers to make explicit the agent of a statement, possibly making the written text easier to read and understand.

E-Prime is used as a mental discipline to filter speech and translate the speech of others. For example, the sentence "the movie was good", translated into E-Prime, could become "I liked the movie". The translation communicates the speaker's subjective experience of the movie rather than the speaker's judgment of the movie. In this example, using E-Prime makes it harder for the writer or reader to confuse a statement of opinion with a statement of fact." -- Taken from Wikipedia

According to proponents of E-Prime such as Robert Anton Wilson, without using IS, or verbs such as 'to be' and re-formulating without them, you fall into the kind of expression which is considered acceptable in modern science, and also helps generate the consciousness which Zen Buddhism tries to induce, thus allowing you to understand them to a much greater depth than before. Using E-Prime, minimal use of passive voice, or past tense is encouraged, meaning present tense is utilized and would be required in our speech and thought processes more than ever before. Similar in languages such as Russian, or Arabic, where past and future tense are not utilized, this forces their modes of thinking to exist solely in the present moment.

It should add tremendously to clarity to the population, in terms of our speech and in terms of rightness or wrongness as a whole. When you think of it, we mainly quarrel in our societies over language and communication. The expression "Jesus is the son of God" is very difficult to accept by Islamic, or Judaic culture, however the phrase "Jesus maybe the son of God" or "Jesus seems like the son of God to us" would be much more accepted, as it doesn't imply that everyone else is definitely wrong. This mode of thinking in non-definitives, also allows for continual growth of concepts as a whole - always leaving room for further discussion on the topic. However, once something has been made definitive, the discussion is closed. This halts growth immediately.

Instead of thinking the "grass is green" say "the grass appears green to me". The reasoning behind this simply states that the aspect or property of an object such as GREEN, is a function of our modes of mental processing. For example, Green can only exist within our minds, as our optic nerve interprets the light reflecting off of the surface of the grass in such a way as to appear green to us. For those who are colour blind, or those who see colours differently (such as some humans, the blind, and many animals) GREEN maybe a foreign concept.

Speaking in E-Prime may also save time as R.A.W. explains, as you don't get into arguments with people over absolutes. Another example would be - "Beethoven is better than Mozart" instead say "Beethoven appears better than Mozart to me." If you take all the IS's out of all your negative statements, you may find that your expressions have much more clarity. E-Prime also states that each sentence must contain the observer or agent, as all reality is perception - all observations must state that this is your subjective experience, as opposed to a definitive, objective reality (which does not exist).

Whenever you feel you are angry or depressed or experiencing negative emotional states in general - this is an exercise you can try. Restate your expressions of depression or sadness using E-Prime, and you may find that your statements are relative to how you feel at the moment. This may remove you from the experience of saddness and allow you the clarity to understand reality as mode of processing which you can control, as opposed to an objective occurrence of which you have no control.

Now imagine that E-prime was used globally, instead of in niche scenarios, or amongst intellectuals. When you don't use IS you will have to put maybe in more of your sentences. News and Television, or News Papers in general - are all quite sure of themselves... and state things in "definitives". With those groups especially, they use only IS, void of maybe, or seems... as a result (or perhaps deliberately) they are all confident that their view is the truth. This maybe then passed along to the populace, in a very "propogandic" fashion. This is dogmatic, and locks their minds and the minds of the viewers into a fixed way of thinking.

Another interesting, and funny term used by the late Robert Anton Wilson is that of a "Cosmic SCHMUCK." This means you can't possibly be right about anything, given the vastness of the cosmos, and the understanding that our knowledge will never be complete, and that all new information assimilated day by day will change our previous definitions of everything (Our universe is interacting processing non-simultaneously apprehended - Buckminster Fuller). A Cosmic SCHMUCK is someone who definitely believes their world view is definitive, and unchangeable, which is the unfortunate state of many of the world's people. If you don't believe that your wrong, you will never change, and thus evolution of your mind and consciousness stops dead in their tracks, and you have now earned the title of Cosmic SCHMUCK. If you aren't a Cosmic SCHMUCK, you will at least think of 5 different alternative modes of thinking or explanations based on your assumption that you are most likely wrong in your subjective perception of reality. Just another reason why E-Prime should be considered as the next evolutionary step in our language symantecs.

Using e-prime, as explained by Robert Anton Wilson.