Is anyone out there listnening to this?

Two major components of genus “Human” are its reasoning organ and its communication aperture, commonly referred to as Brain and Mouth. These two must work in sync with one another or chaos ensues.

Brain’s primary function is to produce and oversee reason, decision-making and a virtual laundry list of ‘feelings’, (all of which must be fed by knowledge and imagination) to be transmitted to Mouth for proclamation to the world. If Brain goes meandering off on a narcissistic path of fantasy, chaos descends into “idle fools talk” — prattle, jibberish and distortion as Mouth attempts to talk out of both sides of itself. Any unfortunate human, holding opposing views to those of this brain, is relentlessly vilified and cast aside as less than Human.

As for Mouth, even though it is essential for the completion of the cycle of communication, it must still remain subservient to Brain. Occasionally, it too takes off on its own and is capable of random spewings, powerful enough to annihilate the rights, ideals and ultimate substance of fellow humans.

So, a balance must be struck. Both must function free of dangerous outside influences and in tandem with each other. Essential to the success of this endeavor is the absolute necessity of bringing reason and empathy into it. If Brain insists on focusing on “self,” Mouth becomes impotent or else presents itself as childish or impulsive and altogether lacking of reason. The survival of the Art of Dialogue, indeed the future of this planet, depend totally on an atmosphere of trust between the two. We can only hope that Ears, two other worthy members, are listening.

Marianne Avery

Wheaton