Language

Is language the thing that organizes participation, or is language what emerges from participation that is already organized?

biology tends to suggest the latter. Cells communicate. Immune systems communicate. Forests communicate. Coral reefs communicate. Mycorrhizal networks communicate. None begin with dictionaries or grammar, yet they exhibit remarkably organized participation.

Then humans arrive and create symbolic language—a wonderfully powerful abstraction—but we often begin treating the symbols as if they are the primary reality instead of one expression of it.

From my observations when new experiences emerge, we instinctively borrow old words because the experience arrives before the vocabulary does. Language follows experience far more often than experience follows language.

I find coherence precedes description. And Language becomes a way that coherence can be recognized and shared, rather than its origin. Allowing for one of the many ways coherence becomes visible to itself.

These fun conversations invite us to ask whether words are creating reality—or simply trying to keep pace with a reality that is already unfolding. ✨