I have this belief about animals that almost everyone disagrees. See, I don’t hunt, and being from Redneckville I usually have to talk about why I don’t. The way that I figure it, animals are a higher life form than humans. They are a little more evolved than we are and so we can learn a lot about how to behave by observing and caring for them. Every time I tell someone this though I am attacked by people claiming that animals are not as intelligent as human beings. "They can’t even fucking talk" they tell me. 

I always have to ask when the ability to talk granted one a superior intelligence to someone who can’t. I know a lot of people that can talk up a storm but don’t know the first thing about what they are talking with. Animals on the other hand have a way of communicating to other animals it’s intentions without there being any mistake what they're saying.  A dog growls and other animals know to step the hell back. Humans though, are always fucking up the communication game. Especially when it comes to dealing with those we love.

Because we are human and we have to rely on this "gift" of speech, rather than the emotional and mental techniques that animals use, we have to start cultivating it. The end of all relationships starts with failing to talk with each other. And by talk I mean talking with substance and not just quantity. This is something that we so desperately need to learn. Not just with those we love but friends, family, and even strangers.

I see so many people that don’t know how to communicate. For instance, I visited some friends this weekend. I first met them online back in the spring and we have been emailing each other ever since. I have a great deal of respect for both of them and they are probably some of the best friends that I have. I call them my soul friends because we have so much in common. This was actually the third time we had spent the weekend together. They are always a lot of fun and have such a generous nature that I am usually sad when I leave because I know that it will be some time before I can see them again since they live two hours away. 

I arrived Friday afternoon and after some great tacos we sat back and played a game of Monopoly. It has been a long time since I have gotten to sit down with friends and enjoy a game like that. She won, of course, after I had leveled him with hotels on Boardwalk and then conceded to her. We spent most of the rest of the night talking and laughing and having a grand old time. It was nice to have fun so simply. No huge expenditure of money or grand display of planning. Just three friends, a piece of cardboard, some paper supplies, die cast figures and some dice. 

The rest of the weekend was like that. Simply, fun and enjoyable. It was that way because we communicate pretty well. There are still things that we don’t talk about and things that we all want to say but it is a new relationship and things take time. But the communication is there. Not just between us but between them as well. They are a great looking couple and are usually very tender and caring with each other. This extends to almost all the relationships they have with their friends. They have their problems, as all couples do, but overall they are strong and good together. 

On New Years Eve we went to visit some of their friends and enjoy the night at their house. They had invited some other guests and again it was a simple affair and very enjoyable. But as it always happens when you get people together, someone just doesn’t mix. The gentleman in question was a man who had not been invited and had a huge problem dealing with others. He attacked the others there over hunting and then ended up calling my friend a deadbeat. I honestly do not believe he really meant the words he said but his people skills were sorely lacking. He ended up being asked to leave after insulting more guests and nearly taking an ass wiping by my friend. 

Other than that the night was fantastic. When I left early this afternoon I did a lot of thinking on the two-hour trip home about communication and how important it is to be able to speak your mind. So many people have such a hard time expressing how they feel without coming off like an asshole. Then you throw in the social pressures of some things not being accepted and feeling like if people really knew you they would hate you and you get a huge barrier that prevents us from being able to see who we really are to one another. This latter problem is what really keeps us from getting to know other people and being able to enjoy their company. 

The major deal here is that we are not communicating with ourselves. We all have thoughts, desires, lusts, passions, hatreds, likes and dislikes but we so rarely have the courage to speak about them. Some people use drugs and alcohol to help themselves out. And it is true that in small quantities a substance can help you open up and really be the self that is usually locked up in a reserved countenance. That is why we admire those people that can do this without using something to induce that state. That is what we are all searching for; the ability to be who we are inside. But the drug that is used often ends up dulling our senses and can create more problems than it helps. That is because we don’t talk with ourselves honestly enough to be able to know who we really are but chose to let the drug do the talking for us. Drugs don’t talk, people. 

I guess that is a major reason that I write. Writing can be very therapeutic and it also is a form of communicating. Personal writing, and that is really the only true writing that there is, gives us the chance to look at ourselves honestly and learn who are inside. Mastering the written word can allow you to be more open and honest around other people as well. But first you have to come out of your shell far enough and long enough that the social thoughts of those around you don’t hurt you nor do they diminish others. People often think that "telling it like it is" is just being brutally honest and it is often claimed that it’s just the way they are. But talk like that diminishes others and that is not communication. 

True communication starts in the heart. As ancient Taoist wisdom tells us, what is inside us is mirrored outside of us. Basically what we perceive of people and even our surroundings is the reality in which they exist. When a person's perceptions change, those people and situations around us change as well. When we face communication with an open heart unfettered by unfair and inaccurate preconceptions, we learn what it is to really talk and get to know people. It is when we grow, not only as individuals, but as a species as well. It is when we get closer to that pure thought of action that animals have so cultivated and thus made them a higher evolved being. 

It's a New Year, and with the beginning and ending of all cycles there are things that are symbolic. The fact that my mind is so focused on communication is hopefully a topic that will continue throughout the coming year. I am going to strive to make that so. All things must change or stagnate and pass on. My life is going through major changes, and I know that most of these have been brought on by the lack of concentration on communication with others. But then again, if my weekend is any indication of the next year, things are not all bad. 

It was communication that brought such good friends into my life. It was communication that allowed me to take this trip and meet new and interesting people. I hope that I can remove that obstacle, much like we did the man who had a failure to communicate, and become something closer to inhuman, something closer to the animals, some one a little more ready to accept life and enjoy its fruits.

I hope that you too can get to this state that I talk about. I do not promise that it will be heaven. I make no claims that things will not be difficult and that there will not be times that are not what we want. What I do propose is that with better communication between all living creatures life will be more enjoyable, even through the bad times. Prince is famous for saying, "May you live to see the dawn." He is speaking about the dawn of a new age in which we all treat each other a little better. I have my own version of that quote:. "May the dawn live to see the light in you". What is inside is mirrored on the outside so the dawn is nothing but the light that resides in us all reflected back upon us. We have to remember that and not look over our shoulders for the light. It is within us and when we truly communicate it shines like no other light can. 

the_Satyr