Like many people, I often use the phrase ‘the world’ generally and in my writing as a shorthand to describe the wider contextual environment within which human experiences occur. Lately, I have been wondering whether this phrase is actually appropriate or meaningful.
When I use it I notice I push away a background feeling of slight embarrassment. The phrase to me, denotes a quiet human arrogance. Through a Cognitive Analytic Therapy lens, by what I think it implies, it reflects a very self-to-self, or egocentric, self-referential position that ironically dismisses the wider context of world life and concerns beyond humans.
Perhaps this use of language points to how our minds naturally become biased towards or organised around human interpersonal experience, to such an extent that the beyond-human world of plants, animals, earth, the spiritual or even anything we don’t yet know, is diminished or prioritised last in our awareness.
While this is understandable and natural, it leaves me wondering what else disappears when we through language, place ourselves, as humanity, at the centre.
Perhaps this mechanism is also behind what happens conversely when we encounter a truly awe-inspiring sight. A natural wonder such as a spectacular mountain-top view or a clear starlit sky. In those moments, perhaps we are reminded of our limits in relation to something much larger than ourselves. For a moment, our perspective shifts, and we experience ourselves less as creators or conquerors of the world and more as participants within it.
Saying all of this, I don’t have a good enough alternative, so I’ll probably continue to use the phrase for want of a better one.
I just wanted to deconstruct it a little and notice how language both influences and is influenced by the way we position ourselves.
© 2026 Lorraine Welch. All rights reserved
Related further reading
Guardian article about Ed Yong’s book: An Immense World
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