Recollect some class you’ve taken in Communications. During a very good nap of yours, the teacher probably put a slide like this up on the overhead projector:
This is the basic schematic of speech. It is pretty bland information, so let’s talk about something the teacher wasn’t allowed to talk about.
The whole process begins when the speaker has a thought. Thoughts, unlike spoken words, exist in a spiritual medium. I do not mean to say that all thoughts are spiritual. I mean to say that all thoughts are of a spiritual nature: thoughts are invisible, intangible, they occupy no physical space. This is why the speaker must encode the thought into spoken words.
Spoken words exist in a physical medium. When you speak a word, you are essentially turning something spiritual into something physical. What begins as a thought gets converted into a physical vibration via your vocal cords, which is then articulated by the movement of your mouth. The articulated vibrations pass through the air as a sound wave moving at 768 mph. When the receiver receives the message, the receiver decodes the vibrations, meaning he converts it back into a spiritual thing––a thought. So notice, the journey of every word traverses two mediums:
Sender’s thought –––vibrations/sound waves–––} Receiver’s thought
Spiritual origin –––physical passage–––} Spiritual reflection
Let’s say Joe has a good idea and he wants to share it with Tom. Before they can mutually appreciate this good idea, the idea must endure a physical passage. Joe has to speak words to Tom until Tom finally nods his head and says, “Oh, I get it now. That invisible, intangible thing you had in your mind is now also in my mind.” Again, in order for any connection to happen, the message must endure a physical passage. Present in all forms of communication is this dynamic.
It becomes exponentially more profound, though, when we recall that all of creation was spoken forth by God. So actually, creation itself fits into this schematic of speech. Right now you and I are experiencing the physical passage of His words. As long as we are physically attached to this creation, we are within the message that God is passing along. And notice, modern physicists speak of the universe in terms of vibrating strings. Could this be because the physical universe is the passage of God’s voice? If so, a question must be answered: who, then, is the receiver on the other end? To whom is God speaking forth creation?
I believe that God is talking to His Bride in timeless eternity, and He is telling her His favorite story, the story about how they met and fell for each other.
Had the message not been passed physically, His Bride on the other end could not comprehend––let alone appreciate––the magnitude of their relationship. In order for them to connect, He simply needed to put His love into words for her. Thus, physical creation.
