ineffable: adj. too great or extreme to be expressed or described in words.
A few things immediately come to mind. The appreciation for everything my mother has done for me. The surreality of a remarkable compatibility I previously would’ve thought unachievable. Lying outside under the unspeakably vast starry sky.
I recently came across this probing article on the meta of ineffability. Jonas seeks to explain origins of the nature of the thing that cannot be expressed. Can we know something if we can’t articulate it? She goes into detail on the possibilities of ineffable objects, ineffable truths, ineffable content, and ineffable knowledge.
“We’re used to the idea that some of life’s most meaningful experiences are difficult, if not impossible, to describe. But what, precisely, does it mean to say that something is unsayable?”
Tangentially, I find this take of ineffability surprisingly accepting. Maybe it’s my views of ever-not-enough knowledge (in this case, deficiencies in language), but I always feel like I should be able to describe even the most significant of moments, sights, experiences–just that I don’t have the particular words to frame my thoughts. But that shouldn’t mean those words don’t exist. I believe they do. If not, though, why don’t we just create them?