to know without language

Someone who thinks in a materialistic way easily believes one can only arrive at understanding through abstract concepts. It takes great effort  for him to come to the insight that the other soul faculties are just as necessary to understand the world, as is the intellect. It is not just meant metaphorically when it is said that one can understand just as well with the feelings, the heart or with a sense of becoming aware of something – as it were sensing it – as with the intellect. Intellectual understanding is only one means to the things of this world to understand.

Source (German): Rudolf Steiner – GA 34 – Die Erziehung des Kindes vom Gesichts punkte der Geisteswissenschaft – 1907
Translated by Nesta Carsten-Krüger
Source (English): Rudolf Steiner – GA 34 – The Education of the Child in the Light of Anthroposophy – 1907

I emphasize this:   Intellectual understanding is only one means to understand the things of this world. And, imho, intellectual understanding is not the best path to understanding the things of this world, especially if someone is bogged down in thought, unable to think without language, to sense without language.