Bioconversation: the purpose of communication.

Bioconversation: how to create the purpose of life. 

I’ve always been fascinated by how and why people have become involved in the work they do. Complementary therapists are a case in point. I don’t think any of them are in it for the profit. I wouldn’t generalise about their reasons and purposes, but I’d like to point out a very valuable tool to which they have free access, unlike most other professions. 

When you visit your dentist, conversation is extremely restricted for obvious reasons: although your mouth is open almost all the time, you can’t talk. And even if you could, what would you speak about? 

Those in the legal profession don’t waste much time with pleasantries. When you’re wanting to be paid by the minute for the minute, and the purpose is more about extending the problem than reaching a solution, fear is the key. 

My opinion of talk therapies is that they’re limited not by but to their formal identities. CBT, Jungian, Gestalt and every other talk therapy has its own code the stamp of which proves its case, patient by patient. 

The coaching industry, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction, achieving the only and excellent master class, niche by niche. Whatever works for you works for me. 

We assume that conversation is about talking, but it’s so much more than that: it’s communication or the lack of it at every possible level. When I began researching for this article, I was taken to the work of Judith E. Glaser. She had put in a nutshell exactly what I was trying to establish: you can’t separate language or conversation from biology, physiology and science. “Kotodama”, the Japanese notion of a word having energy or power is also relevant in this context. To return to Judith Glaser, her observations of hormonal patterns and effects as the result of different kinds of conversations led directly to an improved grasp of how healthy or toxic organisations can be as the consequence of how people talk to each other within the organisation. Very specifically, a brief verbal message changes so much of an individual’s motivation, purpose and sense of meaning and satisfaction: a heartfelt “Have a good day!” has virtually cosmic possibilities in how far it can reach. 

To describe this in greater detail, think not only of the words, but of the tone in which they’re spoken, the amount of consideration behind the utterance, the practised reasonability, heart-awareness, general purposefulness and the real intentionality of the one who speaks. If you have the good fortune to experience these things you should know that the conversation started long before you entered it. Just as you can’t separate a plant from light from photosynthesis, you can’t separate human conversation from human interaction from human purpose, either pleasant or painful. I find the physiological connectedness really interesting: we thought we were using words, but here we are, brainwaves mimicking and resonating with each other, hormonal tides washing each others’ shores, hearts finding or not finding mutual congruence (check HeartMath) : our bodies really seem not to end at skin boundaries but to engage in what has become known as the biofield, the science of which has become undeniable. If you want to read up, Shamini Jain’s “Healing Ourselves” is a good place to start. She bases her work on psychoneuroimmunology, if you’re into long words. When I taught literature, both students and colleagues were surprised when I found it necessary to include a module on psychoneurotransmission, but there you are. The cosmos has more than one face, and the freedom to read more than one kind of writing leads one everywhere. 

Bioconversation is my word for the kind of conversation that seeks, deliberately, growth. I’m not sure how or if life grows, but to be sure, people do, and in due time, you’ll see a course on Bioconversation for your attention for complementary therapists in particular and then for more groups, depending on how the Bioconversation forms. 

Bioconversation is distinct to social media chat, political recruitment, preaching of any kind, advertising, propaganda and empty yet formal education. 

It’s a quick slogan, but you’ll get the idea: “You know when you grow”. Whereas chats on social media or in parties and pubs are fun, this is a different feeling. It has interest, purpose, movement, meaning, direction, desire and above all, the clear hope of a better destination that you can’t achieve on your own. If you’re interested, please let ThinkTree know. We’re better off as a tree than as individual leaves. Think of autumn and spring. And how fortunate we are to be part of the biggest conversation of all.