Three-Dimensional Speaking
As you free your spirit to speak unscripted you become aware of the interdependence of the three dimensions of your life: 1) your ability to come alive with who you are, your most authentic self, 2) your honest and helpful relationship with others (your audience) and 3) your relationship to a purpose that is more important than you, that transcends your needs, wants and circumstance. Most wisdom and religious traditions encourage practices to affirm and promote awareness of these three dimensions and their interdependence. From the perspective of his faith tradition, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called these the Three Dimensions of a Complete Life. Noble Laurette poet Rabindranath Tagore saw the interconnection of these dimensions from his Hindu tradition and simply stated with reverence "the same stream of life that flow through my veins night and day flows through the world." Thich Nhat Hanh from his Buddhist tradition uses the term "inter-being" to convey the interdependence of these three dimensions of life.
The First Dimension:
Your Own Authentic Self
Howard Thurman was the spiritual guide to many leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States, including Martin Luther King Jr. Life Magazine selected him as one of the twelve “Great Preachers” of the twentieth century. His effectiveness as a speaker came from an inner authenticity that could be seen and felt by his audiences. Thurman's appeal to civil rights activists was his deeply centered sense of purpose and his belief that the movement for human rights depended on individuals who were filled with their own sense of worth and dignity. To acquire this sense of purpose, he said you must take an "inward journey" to face whatever is stopping you from coming alive and using your authentic voice. To begin that journey he said: “Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
|
"The Inward Sea"
by Howard Thurman This brief meditation by one of America's most influential public speakers is an invitation to take an "inward journey" to discover the voice of your own authority - your own authentic voice. If you are part of, or interested in being part of, movements of justice, peace and freedom you owe it to yourself to know Howard Thurman's story. Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story. |
|
|
|
|
The "Whole Body Speaking" and "Hints for connecting with your audience" sections of this website provide practical techniques and insights for living in this dimension while preparing to speak and while speaking. Practice these suggestions until they are habitual, and you will naturally move toward a mutually trusting relationship with your audience. Techniques, however, are only on the surface of this dimension. Going beneath the surface you will discover a richness of emotions and meaning. On the Practitioner's Hints page Lyn Marshall, for example, shares how speaking unscripted enabled her to see the tears in the eyes of one member of her audience as she was telling a story. Mindfully and empathetically she establishes momentary eye contact with that person. This was a private moment in a public setting that conveyed heartfelt meaning to both the speaker and a member of the audience. Existentialist philosopher Martin Buber once said: “When two people relate to each other authentically and humanly, God is the electricity that surges between them.” Whether you use the word god or not, speaking from the heart presents the potential for experiencing a powerful connection with others. If, for example, you learn to reveal your heart to others by telling a personal story about a weakness you have - or a feeling of inadequacy - you are saying, "I am just like you. I may have special knowledge to share, but you are special too and for these moments we are in relationship." There is a fluidity in these fleeting moments of connection with your audience that can move you and your audience from impersonal and distant objects to interactive subjects. Buber call this the transformation from an "I- It" to an "I-Thou" relationship. That is, "they" (the audience) and "you" the speaker are no longer objects to each other. If you are mindful of these connections as you speak then the room will fill with a potential that will bring you alive, moment to moment balanced with your audience.
|
|
To learn more about Martin Buber and how his philosophy might instruct your practice of Speaking by Heart watch this brief Buber in Ten Minutes video created by Eric Dodson. |
The Third Dimension:
Your Awareness of Something
More Important than You
|
|
The third dimension of Speaking by Heart asks the questions: "Why am I speaking?" "Does what I have to say rest comfortably with my understanding of the meaning of my life?" This "meaning making" dimension gives your unscripted speech a purpose that transcends you and will be immediately felt by your audience.
This sense of transcendence is not supernatural, but natural. In his internationally acclaimed book "Man's Quest for Meaning" psychiatrist Viktor Frankl states: "Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life and not a secondary rationalization of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance that will satisfy his own will to meaning." This is the foundation of Frankl's Logo-therapy (from the Greek word Logos = meaning) which was forged in his experience in the Nazi concentration camps where the very meaning of life was stripped bare by unspeakable inhumanity.
Frankl observed that this quest for meaning could be satisfied in three fundamental ways that can be directly applied to your practice of unscripted speaking. A meaning that transcends you can be found when you :
1) feel you are doing something for others or for humanity.
2) experience something inspiring like a natural scene or the love for another person.
3) discover meaning in suffering or difficult situations.* *adapted from a summary provided by Killian Markert
Here are two brief videos that can help you discover the importance of giving your unscripted speech a meaning that transcends yourself.
This sense of transcendence is not supernatural, but natural. In his internationally acclaimed book "Man's Quest for Meaning" psychiatrist Viktor Frankl states: "Man's search for meaning is a primary force in his life and not a secondary rationalization of instinctual drives. This meaning is unique and specific in that it must and can be fulfilled by him alone; only then does it achieve a significance that will satisfy his own will to meaning." This is the foundation of Frankl's Logo-therapy (from the Greek word Logos = meaning) which was forged in his experience in the Nazi concentration camps where the very meaning of life was stripped bare by unspeakable inhumanity.
Frankl observed that this quest for meaning could be satisfied in three fundamental ways that can be directly applied to your practice of unscripted speaking. A meaning that transcends you can be found when you :
1) feel you are doing something for others or for humanity.
2) experience something inspiring like a natural scene or the love for another person.
3) discover meaning in suffering or difficult situations.* *adapted from a summary provided by Killian Markert
Here are two brief videos that can help you discover the importance of giving your unscripted speech a meaning that transcends yourself.
|
In this rare clip from 1972, legendary psychiatrist and Holocaust-survivor Viktor Frankl delivers a powerful message about the human search for meaning - and the most important gift we can give others.
|
This is a brief animated story of Frankl's life and thought - his Quest for Meaning.
|
Two Examples of Three-Dimensional Speaking
|
|
"Joy and Woe are Woven Fine," a personal story of sustaining the vision for peace and justice that I told at Voice on the Green in Lexington, Mass., in November 2018. It is an example of Three-Dimensional Speaking by Heart. Here I tell my self-revealing story in a relational style to share what I consider the transcending meaning of knowing that "joy and woe" are woven into all our lives.
|
"Three-Dimensional Living" is a sermon I gave at First Parish Church in Lexington, Mass., in May 2019 that explores the contemporary significance of Dr. King's historic sermon "Three Dimensions of a Complete Life".