As soon as a healthy baby is born and takes its first breath, it begins moving—interacting with its surroundings. It moves its arms and legs and it makes sounds. It exhibits the characteristics of being present—of being a presence that is alive—as it is interacting with those other presences in its surroundings.
Yet, this presence—this baby—has no words at its disposal to describe its experience of being alive.
Other presences in its surroundings have words and each of these other presences can describe his/her experience of being present at this baby’s birth using the words, symbols and images he/she has at his/her disposal. And they do place words, symbols and images on this baby—this presence—giving this presence a name and a number and a picture by which it can be identified.
Words, symbols and images come later for this presence called “baby” as this presence matures into a toddler, a child, an adolescent and an adult—but only after this presence learns how to control the movement of its vocal chords and the moving of the chords (tendons) of its writing hand.
And so it comes to be that each of we presences called “human beings” becomes a wordsmith and lives in two realities:
- the reality in which there is movement absent the presence of words, symbols and images (Words);
- the reality in which there is both movement absent the presence of Words and movement present the presence of Words.
However, as it turns out, even though we presence called “human beings” have the potential as wordsmiths to create multiple Words and multiple Languages populated by these Words (the “verbal”), what lies beneath all Words and all verbal realities(the “nonverbal” ) remains a “mystery”
Simply Stated:
All of we presences called “human beings” (including this presence called “me” – “Bill”) live in two realities: the nonverbal and the verbal reality.
In nonverbal reality, there are no Words, there is only the movement/moving of the body moment by moment.
In verbal reality, there are Words; the challenge for all of we “human beings” as wordsmiths being to use our Words in verbal reality congruent with the nonverbal reality out of which they emerge.