What makes you tick? What frequency are you transmitting on? Do you have a unique wavelength?

To dive deeper into the metaphor: What is your operating system? If humans are the “hardware”, then might language be the “software”?

You might say that language is the source code for culture. There’s the code you were born into and raised with and then there are the various add-ons and modules and plug-ins that you add on your own by living your life experience.

You have no say where you start, but once you start to make decisions for yourself and find your own path, it’s up to you. Your culture, language, and the community you are born into provide the bedrock of your operating system. There’s no getting around the fact of your ‘native tongue.

One thing we all have in common as humans is the ability to tinker with our consciousness in one way or another. Some like to alter it and go sideways with various substances, some spiral down to the lowest common denominator of their community, and others focus on living life in a way that raises it.

Spending time in a foreign country where the language and customs are different gives you insight into the differences and commonalities that we all share. Observing the US from my current viewpoint in France brings that reality into stark relief!

So much of the human experience is unique to whatever culture and custom from which it springs. Baguettes and burritos may share a similar shape, but that’s where the resemblance ends. One person’s spicy is someone else’s bland, but none is better than another, they’re simply springing from a different OS.

Yet across all cultures and languages, what’s hardwired into us manifests. Humor. Romance. A zest for living. Beneath the surface of language, we all walk on human feet. Movement is driver of our vibration.

Dance cuts to the chase. When we move in relation with others, or share a point of contact, words can take a breather and get out of the way. Even noticing the body language of a stranger can speak volumes.

Just as computers have provided a way for us to cut across cultural barriers with technology, we have the means to upgrade humanity’s operating system by bolstering the best of our own roots while exalting, appreciating, and enchanting ourselves with the unique treasures other cultures bring to the fore.

Kindness is something that speaks well in any tongue, so may your week be fluent and your smiles abundant!

Portez vous bien à lundi prochain!

M+

PS: No internet in the countryside means no newsletter, that’s why it’s on Tuesday this week. Back to our regular schedule next Monday 🙂

Mark Metz
Director of the Dance First Association
Publisher of Conscious Dancer Magazine