from 1989’s FTE, Vol I, No 4

I remember sitting in a workshop about twelve years ago and hearing the woman speaker say, "What am I? I am a function of Life." Meaning me. What???? A function?? ONLY a "function"! Not a "person," -- I took it to mean "I" didn't exist, and was stunned. (I had checked out everything she had said in the weeks prior and found her instruction to be very sound -- it did check out, and I respected her and the information she dispensed to us.)

I must admit I took this quite hard, "I am only a function." (Let me stress, she never said "only" a function, that was MY immediate interpretation.)

It is funny how popular talk of the day stresses the degradation of being considered an object (expressed most often as "a sex object" and so on), and here I was insulted because I was told I was not an object, but a function!

"But what about 'Me'?"

Well, I did a considerable amount more checking it out in the ensuing years, as I was given more information, and have calmed down about this.

Just about every article in FTE emphasizes the necessity of ACTION. We must act upon information and inspiration (understanding) for it to become Wisdom.

If understanding could be seen as an object (a noun) then Wisdom can be seen as a function (a verb).

It is a wonderful experiment in altered perception to start looking at nouns as verbs.

Are digestion, respiration, circulation of the blood sight, touch, nouns or verbs? They all describe functions, none of which would mean a thing if looked at as objects.

Which has more value, intellect (a noun) or intelligence (for our purposes here, a verb). It is nothing if not used.

Sheet music, or a song? A cookbook or a feast?

IDEA ............................................. ACTION

Seeds ........................................... Flowers

A house ....................................... A home

A car ............................................. Travelling

A map ........................................... A city

Being the object of love ........ Loving

No noun has any value unless it is used. Even if "use" means merely admiring it. Does the tree falling in the forest make sound if no one hears it?

Does it matter, if no one hears it?

So over the years I have grown quite content with being a function rather than an object. It seems to me a great privilege to be able to act out whatever I wish.

The first of the four great questions, What am I? (Not Who am I?) is a great key to Wisdom. I am a function of Life that can act out, express Life; that can play, comfort, serve, create, observe, laugh, cry, Love and Live. What an enormous privilege.