Keep talking...

Cycling again - (33 miles today). Thinking all the way - what will I blog next? No inspiration, - maybe it was the music. Then Floyd came round (as they do quite often on my MP3 player).

The song: "Keep Talking" from Division Bell - a favourite album.

For millions of years mankind lived just like animals
Then something happened
which unleashed the powers of our imagination
We learned to talk.

The song uses Stephen Hawkins' voice from the BT advert. Hawkins proposes a "new world order" based on the idea of talking, and using internet technology to facilitate that. It is an enticing vision.

My first reaction was - no that is not all that separates us from animals. What about imagination, emotion, creativity, the sense of the numinous (the "other", the divine, the spiritual). But then I thought about my favoirite creation narrative -The Gospel of John chapter 1:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made.
In him was life,
and that life was the light of men.

Here communication is at the heart of creation - in Genesis creation is a direct result of communication - IMHO the only thing we really do or can understand about how creation happened is that it is a result of God speaking.

Communication is important - but as the floyd song illustrates we shouldn't confuse it with talking:

I think I should speak now ____ Why won't you talk to me
I can't seem to speak now ____ You never talk to me

As the dialogue between the vocals and chorus indicate, communication has to be 2 way.

I talk a lot - but I'm not so strong on listening...

Talking of creation - try this from Kez...