linguistic representations of the worldnand thus make the world different fromnwhat it was previously. This should notnbe surprising. Still, most people continuento believe that langu^e merely providesna way of transcribing reality, not of constructingnit When societies act as thoughn”transcription” were true, they becomenstatic and new innovations or technologiesnfor both the physical and behavioralnspheres of existence are impossible.nThe discrepancy between languagenand reality is the paramount recognitionnof Western civili2ation, one which makesnpossible our dynamic way of life. Butnthere is a high cost we must pay for thisndiscrepancy and the individual freedomnthat it fosters: insecurity, or a lack ofncertainty, as Dewey would describe it.nWhen the locus of control is external tonthe individual, he knows his place. Henmay be less free, but he suffers no anxietynabout predicting events. Securitynreigns, even when people are not happynwith their circumstances. Indeed, peoplenwill persist with something intolerablensimply because they feel certain aboutnhow events will transpire: we have allnmet persons who have invested in thefrnown impotency.nYet many in the West live knowingnthat the representations of reality thatnthey perceive are simply their own andnthus subject to alteration, and so they trynto improve their condition. In Americanthis resdess energy has seemingly knownnno bounds. And so infinite experimentsnthat needed fresh language even to describenthem have led to wondrous newnforms and expanded liberties. Yet simultaneouslyncame heavy responsibilitiesnand an ever-widening gap between reachnand grasp, between imagination andnreason.nReason is finally what allowed man tonperceive the discrepancy between languagenand reality; this discrepancy is butnanother name for freedom. Citizens arenfree when they have choice, ownership,nand liability. While reason fosters thesenconditions, it paradoxically generates ancounter urge for submissive control. Innfeet, we might say that every ^e of reasonncontains within it all-too-fertile seeds fornsubsequent crops of irrationality. Justnwhen man makes significant gains throughnthe freedom manifest by his reason, henfeels the need to consolidate these gainsnand so mms in on himself and in a fit ofnparalysis snufis out the flame of reason.nL