Once upon a time, we communicated with gesture and interpreted with intuition — a sixth sense of knowing. In those days, life was very inter-connected, organic, whole, alive and changing

As we began to label things, That and Not-That arose. Separateness became the norm over Unity. Mechanics prevailed over Flow.

Judgment elbowed aside Wonder/Fascination.

Awe gave way to awful.

As our science grew, our labels expanded exponentially toward greater specificity and a lessening relationship to the living holistic nature supposedly described. It was cool to follow our curiosity to deeper and wider horizons — needing more and more word-markers to sign-post our path into the labyrinth. And so grew the body of knowledge.

As our judgment grew, our arguments expanded exponentially toward greater legalism and a lessening relationship to the common sense inherent in the natural whole. It was fear and fairness driving us to be right and just — “just right” — requiring more and more glossaries, lexicons, and interpretations of words that were once clear in meaning. And so grew the body of rules for right and wrong and of course, the differences between people who were right and wrong.

The path through science led to efficiencies, increased productivity, incredible advances, and amazing mechanics. We can DO things precisely as never imagined.

The path through judgment led to entanglements, structure-for-its-own-sake, methodical reinterpretations, and juris-paralyzed-with-prudence. We can now FEAR doing wrong with unimagined precision.

While we name and label every little thing, we lose track of the essence en-livening.

While we fearfully judge every little action, we lose track of the love connecting.

Perhaps we are steadfastly in search of better and faster which results from heightened productivity and effectiveness. In this view, more is certainly better. The first shall be first and the last suckers.

Pre-modern native groups managed tasks with spontaneity — not a set of rules, roles and directions. Nature seems to manage intricate, seemingly chaotic movements of myriad pieces effortlessly in harmonious flow (wheeling flocks of birds, herd movements, etc.)

It is a question of RESULTS not process.

Thus has evolved our Judeo-Christian interpretation of Jesus’ Aramaic adjectives of “ripe” and “unripe” into the arbitrary and authoritative “good” and “evil.”

What happens if I give up my need to have myself and those around me always say the right and correct-to-my-world word? An interesting shift occurs. I spent most of my first 50 years debating, defining, clarifying and teaching others what was “right” from my (and of course reasonable and correct) point of view.

Lately, I’ve begun to have an awareness (see/feel of some of the other levels of communication which occur regardless of the actual words spoken or written. When I look for that awareness, the actual words often make little difference to the message. As I see/feel that awareness, I notice this illusive yet wonderful creation of “we” that occurs between the speaker and me. That “we” is fragile and is quickly shattered by judgment and fear of being wrong. This “we” often enables a much wider awareness of the possibilities and solutions. It flows and shifts, a living being, and can offer much richness to the participants.

What if another’s view is X, while mine is Y, and both are true and fascinating at once?

What if we pretend, for a moment, that Z may be born of the union of X and Y? That would make the moment pregnant with possibility.

How does the Word show up in our lives?

We hear auditory vibrations through our ears and interpret with our brains. We pick up sub-liminal, assumptions, free-floating anxiety, vibrational effect of tone, pitch and decibel levels. We speak aloud for others and often ourselves to hear. We all have a nearly continuous internal dialogue (chitta vritti in the Yoga Sutras). We read words and see pictures.

Look for glimpses of “we” in the gaps.