If there did not exists discrete units of color and sound which make up the above color-sound-scale, there would be no songs to sing nor pictures to paint. Without the above color-sound-scale there would not have existed in history artists like Bach, Wagner, Michelangelo, nor Leonardo da Vinci.  

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We can begin by asking: Was the color-sound-scale illustrated above discovered or invented? Did scientists determine how many vibrations of air per second produced the musical scale of Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do; or, did they discover them?  Musicians would be inclined to say: "The musical scale is not an accident. It is a natural consequence of pure mathematics and nature. It's more proper to say it was discovered, not invented."

 

But besides vibrations of sound, there are the vibrations of light. Physicists say there is a relation between the two.  "If you could actually 'hear' the extremely high frequencies the red, yellow and blue [primary color] light waves are vibrating at... you would hear a Major chord.  And if you could 'see' the sound of notes in a major chord relative to the same 'rainbow scale' used by light... you would see notes and chords in primary color just like the way they are used in the chord diagram above."

   

It is recognized that neither physicists, artists, nor musicians invented the above related system of sound-color constants. The number of vibrations which define the boundaries of each color  and each musical note scientists would call "etic data."   It is data which is fixed,  unchanging, and discoverable. 

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Similarly, we can also ask if linguists invented what is called the International Phonetic  Alphabet; or, did they discover it?   The qualities which constituted the Ideal sounds charted on a phonetic chart according to their physical qualities were discovered by linguists, not invented.  Phonologists analyzing a sound system are dealing with material phenomena produced by the mouth, tongue, and vocal cords.  What  is vocalized is measurable, observable, and testable. 

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Likewise, musicians who write music are dealing with discrete units of musical sounds, each sound manifested by fixed range of vibrations of air per second.  The number of vibrations that produce each sound on the musical scale below were discovered and named, not invented.

 

 

 

Now just as there exist discrete units of vocal sound produced by the mouth, tongue, and vocal cords which make up a phonetic alphabet, and just as there exists discrete units of color produced by vibrations of light which make up the chart of primary colors, and just as there exists discrete units of musical sounds produced by the vibrations of air put forth by musical instruments, it is proposed the same holds true for units of meaning.  In the words of semanticist Ana Wierzbicka, "We should specify that "meaning" has to do with the constants, not with the variables"

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Whereas the phonologist, artist, and musician are all dealing with phenomena which is physical, the social scientist, semanticist,  or missiologist is dealing with phenomena which is spiritual.  In life, this spiritual phenomena is manifested in cultural forms common to all people to which are attached meanings which either represent the Divine Ideal or misrepresent the Ideal and "belong to the people."   

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The existence of misrepresentations of the Ideal in a society's cultural operating system reveals that man and society have both the freedom and capacity to DIVERGE from the IDEAL and create diverse cultural systems. This DIVERGENCE from the IDEAL the Bible describes metaphorically as: "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own"  (Isaiah 53:6 --NLT).  

 

Convictions

1. Discrete units of meaning exist. Without such discrete units of meaning, cross-cultural communication would not be possible.  

2. There exists encoded  in the subconscious a Universal Lexicon containing concepts to which are attached Divine meanings which can be brought to consciousness by being triggered in a socio-linguistic situation.

3. Before social scientists are able to glean positive universals from an examination of cultural particulars, it is imperative that they recognize the dual nature of human existence.  When one is dealing with  cultural and psychological  phenomenon, one is dealing with spiritual phenomenon rather than material. 

4. If a social scientist is understand why people behave and act differently, the analyst needs culture-free etic data. Without the constants, one cannot be a scientist.