It is said in the oft-quoted Gospel of John that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and nothing was made without the Word".
With words arose... communications. And from them. the Bible also tells us, that a Tower of Babel was erected to reach the Divine, and that it was destroyed... because of its vanity, and there appeared thousands of languages. And it was no longer easy to understand one another: each one spoke his own language.
Without going into whether it was like that or not, what is certain is that each human community established in different areas of the planet generates a language: the word. And through it they communicate.
And taking a great leap, we have arrived to the communications era -where we are now. And taking another great interpretative leap, we arrive at uncommunication. As if a mutation had occurred.
Continuous laws, articles and clarifications, wields bureaucracy of the governments to clarify, to point out, to say...
As one might expect, everyday communication is so fragile that...
It seems that everyone is determined to say his or her own version, and as a result, listening is not the best one... because instead of listening -even if I am silent- I am thinking about what I am going to say.
And this is how confusion -from "confused"- arises.
And in all of this dizzying gazing, where is "in the beginning was the Word"?
It is like saying: "In the Beginning was God, and now, in the Beginning is.... "today"”.
And the difference is substantial, between starting from a Creative Force, and starting from now, from today... almost an unfathomable abyss.
The saying of: "Where I said I see, I say Icy", becomes valuable.
Mistrust is present, and so is confrontation, since each communicating fragment claims its authorship and certainty, which do not coincide with the others. And so, mistrust and uncertainty are logical, since what each being understands is different from what the other understands.
The result is that... either –(either)- the speech is incomplete, imprecise, misleading... or else the listening is unconcerned, indifferent... or, as we said at the beginning: one is thinking more about what one is going to say than about what one is listening to.
To this should be added the "traditional" -let's call them that- prejudices between people: "What this one says is fine; what that other one says, is not. What this one says, I take into account; but what that other one says…I don’t”.
So, there are 'multi-factors' that play a role in the lack of communication in the era of communication.
And so, obviously, when we are called to pray -the Prayerful Call- we can listen.... anything! And interpret... anything else. And that what is heard remains, as an integral part of the prayer, is even more difficult.
The Prayerful Call warns us, alerts us of the need to be precise in our listening, our words, what is said.
Beware of prejudices.
To give... value -and perhaps this is an important point- to give value to anyone's words. To the extent that we value each other's words, respect is established. And to the extent that there is respect, there is coexistence. But if we start from chronic, already established bases... the endless communicating resources will be of no use.
If in the Beginning it was the Word, the Praying Call claims us -since we are speakers-... it claims us, first of all, sincerity. And with that, most probably, the words will appear. And that is another chapter that also affects the word:
"I'm going to say this, but I won’t show that I've kept something else quiet".
Ah!
"How would I tell this, cutting out that, without this or the other taking part".
Oh!
Endless twists and turns could be made.
It is similar, the degree of obstacle, to when you ask someone, knowing that they know what you are asking, and they pretend they don't know.
.- Where do you live?
.- I don't know.
.- What do you mean you don't know?
.- No, I don't know.
Instead of saying: I don't want to tell you where I live.
Sometimes they are such blatant things as these one that turn out to be... offensive, disrespectful...
But... let's not forget that we are in the era of impunity. So, everyone can say and express what they want to say, not what they should say.
But what is serious is that everyone does not realise that, when he complains and asks questions, the same thing will happen to him.
But here, of course, there is always the law of the funnel. In other words: "I demand clarity and honesty from others, but I won't give it".
The ever famous: "You see the speck in someone else's eye, but you don't see the plank in your own eye".
Then the famous examples appear... and the memories of that one, and the other... and the uproar ensue. And if it only would be good for something, it is fine, but it doesn’t, it doesn't solve anything. It creates tensions and... more prejudices!
Today's Prayerful Call urges us, every time we express -or before expressing- to reconsider what we are going to comment on, to show, to say; to check that what has been said has been understood. And it doesn't matter if they are small things or big things!... Any word is great: depending on where it is placed, who says it and at what time, it can be transcendental. So, it's no good saying: "No, it's just that at that moment, the words...; but at this moment, these other words... are lowering in quality". No! That is a prejudice towards the word itself.
Hence the Prayerful Call claims from us the gift! -because it is a gift- to communicate; moreover, that we can do so in all sorts of ways and forms.
How rough and rude are communications when the words are sententious, when the speech is dubious, when what is conveyed is untruthful.
And how soft, how gentle the word is, and what a balm it is, when you feel it is moved, when you feel it is heartfelt, when you feel it is sincere, when you feel it is motivating, when you feel it is inducing, when you feel it is intentional! And it is not only gentle, but it is vigorous. It turns out to be... a hope. It turns out to be a promise.
It turns out to be believe! It turns out to be -the word- believe.
Do you remember that religious catchphrase: "Word of God", and the reply was: "We praise you, Lord"?
How humanity has come to disrespect itself so much, so much, so much!… that we need notaries to attest, give faith about what we say and who we are?
Faith is not given by a public notary! Faith is an extraordinary happening!... which emanates from Creation, and which is committed in words when they are of sincere urgency.
It also happens that in that speech, in that word, very often, the one who is going to say or speak, has already thought for the one who is going to listen...
"That's... That's awesome, that's amazing, that's transfiguring, that's quantic!"... -let's put a bit of humour in it-.
.-You see, I'm going to tell you something, but I already know what you're going to think, I already know what you're going to answer me.
.-Then don't say anything, you fool! If you know everything, why are you going to say it?
Often, as people have plenty of resources, they already think and feel and know about others... Although they do not know or feel what they themselves think and feel, they do know about others. But about "the others", about everyone!
.-I already know what he is going to say to me when I tell him such a thing.
.-Ah, do you?, but did you tell him?
.-No.
.-Then how do you know?
.-Well Man! I do, because I know him.
.-And then what?...? What do you know!?
It's good to prospect, of course! It's OK to make suppo…sitions -reminiscent of suppositories: supo-sitions. "And I suppose and I suppose...".
Wait, wait, wait, wait! Don't you put anything on the table yet. Show yourself as you are, and if you are truly sincere and hold no marked cards, you will be heard.
Because no matter how much we mistreat words, they have their soul, yes. And they will not be destroyed or made to disappear by politics, philosophy, religion... no! We can mistreat them -as is the case-, we can distort them, misinterpret them, yes, but they are still there.
And when it is decided to use them as accurately as one is capable of, they are heard. But it happens that they are usually contaminated, hasty or late, or ahead of time.
Therefore, the Praying Sense also urges us and impels us to believe in the word. Do you remember?: "One word from you will be enough to heal"? And it is true!... But it has to be that word with rigour, harmony, balance, beauty, transparency, sincerity and the gift of dedication, which has to be expressed.
And we have all experienced moments when those words, or that word, or what was said to me, moved me, left me... not just thinking, but it stayed there. And we don't forget it.
The latest news about our genome tells us that we have 8055 million letters.
Eight thousand? That's a lot of letters, isn't it? Really, they are four or five letters -it depends- and with them a human being is constructed. But they are letters; they are writings that speak, because when we read them, we interpret them. And we could say -now on this hyper-modern level:
"Isn't that number of letters enough to make things clear? Because if it only had four or five letters... But it has eight thousand? -by the way: "millions"-.
In other words, our resources are... wow! So as not to repeat ourselves. Our resources are inexhaustible. We would need many lifetimes, or exercise ourselves as eternal, to exhaust all the combinations that can be gestated in that information.
But everything is just right. By "just right" I mean that everything is very well placed, in these letters, to constitute a human being. And consequently, also to read and express ourselves, we must consider everything at our disposal so that what is expressed is correctly read, correctly heard, clearly stated.
Without assuming that the other knows, that "I think that", that "it seems to me that...". No, no, no, no, no. Adenine goes with thymine, and cytosine goes with guanine. And they can't go any other way, like letters in the genetic alphabet.
And the uracil -the fifth- to transcribe. And when there is an error, the manifestation is very significant.
And so it is, likewise, with the world, with the species. Mistakes and errors and mistakes accumulate, and dramas and dramas and dramas follow one after the other. And it was all because he said that he told me, that I told him, that he understood, that he didn't understand, that he accepted, that he lied!...
"And God said: Let there be light. And God said...".
So, the word worked for him.
He believed in what he said, and that's what he created.
And if we are a model emanating from the Creator Mystery, we only know based on of "what we have been gifted with". And following the comparison of our code, we are shown infinite ways of expressing and communicating and clarifying ourselves... without error.
The words claim to us, so that our beliefs in ourselves -and in our surroundings- can be viable. We can establish a truly complaisant adaptation.
And believing in one's own word, and in that of the other, makes us join together in projects, in ideas, in coexistence.
MERCY…
***
