Now that the vacations are done it’s back to the Tuesday night Men’s group and I’ve got a biography of John Calvin to finish reading. I’m up to Bolsec’s attacking Calvin on the subject of the doctrine of predestination. Bolsec was a medical doctor who was also learned in theology and attended the Genevan “company of pastors” meetings. At one meeting Bolsec got worked up about and went after Calvin’s doctrine without Calvin present. Calvin enters mid-rant and Calvin being Calvin (impulse control over theological argumentation was a bit of a growing edge for old John) the battle was joined in a big way. The meeting ends with Bolsec being taken into custody.

When we read this today our eyes roll and we think “that’s what was wrong with them in those days, they took things too far” and maybe they did. The idea that we ought to be given the right to speak what we think without consequence is deeply ingrained in us and probably for some good reasons. I doubt, however, that we are so completely sold on the idea that we really think that there should be no consequences for anyone saying anything anywhere. Our little experiment with “freedom of speech” has of course yielded a variety of notable exceptions, like yelling “fire” in a crowded theater.

When it comes to employment issues we also know that there is no such thing as completely “free” speech. Almost all of us know that you can be fired for saying certain things, or even for not saying certain things at certain times. This is true of a CEO and equally true of a lowly customer rep on an 800 number somewhere. In fact, one might argue, the more responsibility one has, like the POTUS in fact has the least free speech. When he says one thing about a planned mosque in lower Manhattan one group is mad, when he says something else someone else is mad. Saying certain things in fact CAN threaten not only your job but also your freedom.
So why is the world like this and why do we want it so?

We want it so because we as persons, actors, agents in this world are given agency and agency requires consequence. To know each other, not just what we do, but also what we think is important for building community and for knowing how that community will travel into the future together. We also have things called agreements where when we come to a conclusion together in mutual or joint agency we expect that others will stick to the words (which embody expectations) that were expressed. This sub-creation in reality that we develop in this way in fact is enormously consequential. All of the mechanism that in fact billions of people depend upon not just for living but also for peace and wellbeing depend upon this network of consequential words. We quite frankly can’t live without it. Ever since two people became a family, this situation has prevailed.

Do you really want to assert that words should always be consequence free? Go ahead, try it. I bet you can’t do it with words and if you do you are undermining your assertion itself.

How this all works is in fact the stuff of culture, the stuff of community, and the stuff of life together itself. This is why we speak.

So go ahead and test the limits. Limits have a way of finding us. If you imagine that you really want a world without consequential words I suppose you should try doing it yourself. My only advice is to not be surprised if an unwelcome consequence finds you quickly.

A wise book says “be quick to listen and slow to speak”.

Words are important.

I hear people saying “we should stop arguing with each other and just love each other.” Well, I suppose we don’t need to argue with each other, but I also think we can’t as human beings really love each other without words, and we’re not going to honestly relate to one another or be able to respect each other without talking about the words we disagree about. It hasn’t been done because it can’t be done and it won’t be done. Like it or not we’ve been given these powerful things called “words” upon which all human culture is built. Like it or not loving each other will always involve them even its hard. pvk