The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Friday, January 14, 2005

Chakra #5: Communication

The fifth chakra, called "vishuddhi" in sanscrit, can be found in the throat. It is thecenter of communication, both input and output. Education, ease of speech, perhaps even internal/external honesty--all can be found here. Ease of communication is associated with many kinds of health, even socially acceptable behavior. There is an inverse relationship between size of vocabulary and the tendency to violent crime, what one might call the "Billy Budd Syndrome," where the more easily one communicates verbally the less likely you are to act out with violence. Learning to communcate your feelings honestly is crucial to emotional health, and in a marriage without communication, passion and love die. But it is jsut asvital to communicate honestly with yourself. Most of the time, we lose contact with our true inner voices, and hear only the garbage that has simply collected in our psyche over time. If you have no consistant meditation practise, this is a genuine danger, and I strongly suggest that you begin one. Meditation is like running the aquarium filter on the fish tank of your soul. Ouch.
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So...to character. What is her level of education? Honesty? Method of spontaneous discourse? With whom is she most intimately revelatory? Vocabulary level? Think about all of these things, and more, if you want to create differentiation between your characters, such that the reader knows who is speaking from dialogue alone.

Steve

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