Beyond Qualia

How many times has my own vocabulary failed? How many times has the ultimate vocabulary (dictionary, google, thesaurus etc.) still left me wanting for words? 2,500 words are added to the dictionary every year and not all are entirely new words/concepts. So should I just wait for words/concepts to be invented?

What if I cannot make sense of something AND I've never experienced it before? How do I even process such a thing? What if I get stuck---and I need help with that processing? How do I even ask for help to begin such processing?


I am just beginning to comprehend that such "explanatory gaps" happen more often than I would like to believe. This could be a damning realization, yet when I move beyond my own understanding, this gap is also the very thing which sets me, and those I encounter, free. When I harness all the energy it would take to find the perfect, one-size-fits-all box, and instead put that energy toward creating space in which I can be present with people and their experiences, well, something greater, beyond my own limitations has a chance to emerge.

I am discovering that how I receive and "sit with" such attempts and expressions is more important than comprehending such things for myself. This space is the very thing which invites conversation (sometimes leading to insight which sometimes leads to change) around such gaps. In order to be open to such space, I have to believe it really is okay when words fail. I have to believe it really is okay when things don't make sense. The evidence of this "okay" is all around me when I have eyes to see, and ears to hear it...and even when I don't.