“Conversation” is not a subjective term. It has as precise a meaning as “tree” or “rock”. In a conversation, each pericope advances upon the last. It is warm, sweet, structured, disciplined, highly idiosyncratic yet full of role-discipline — all at once.
What most people call “conversation” is not. Most verbal encounters are just serial monologues, and the connection between the monologues is the flimsiest association, often just a verbal echo. These are non-events.The first person says something about her children and the second person remembers something similar about his children. And so it goes. The talk neither progresses nor finds any new truth. This superficial talk is fine for the polite chatter and information processing that we all have to do to get through a day with casual or business acquaintances…but the talk that most of us spend our days on is not this word “conversation”.
A conversation, as I’ll try to describe in these pages, is a spiritual practice among certain friends of God, and most people live their lives without experiencing one. I know this sounds elitist and might elicit an eye-roll from readers. I do hate that. But I have to describe my experience honestly, against the backdrop of my observations of others. Take what you will and pass on if you can’t.