To speak (to speak truly) is not simply to translate a complete thought into words. It means throwing yourself into the water, going in search of meaning, embarking on an adventure.
Most of all I like to take the floor before I fully understand my point. I know that the words themselves will come to my aid and lead me to myself: I trust them. I like those students for whom every question is like a challenge, those who clarify their thought as it is expressed.
I like it when words break out on the psychoanalyst’s couch, that make us stop lying to ourselves. I like it when words do not obey us, they pulsate and crowd each other and rush into the speech stream, intoxicated with the meaning that is being born right now. So let’s not be afraid! Let’s not wait until we understand what we want to say in order to start talking. Otherwise, we will never say anything.
On the contrary, let’s better imbue the sensuality of the word and let it influence us — it can, and how!
“It is in the word that thought acquires meaning,” wrote Hegel, objecting to Descartes and his assertion that thought precedes speech. Today we know that this is not so: there is no thought to precede words. And this should set us free, should be an invitation for us to take the floor.
To speak is to create an event in which meaning can be born.
You can take the word even in complete solitude, at home or on the street, you can talk to yourself to explore your own thought. In any case, even if you are silent, you create your thought through inner speech. Thought, Plato said, is «the dialogue of the soul with itself.» Don’t wait for confidence to talk to others. Know that by telling them what you think, you will know if you really think it. In general, a conversation is anything but communication.
Communication is when we say what we already know. It means to convey something with a purpose in mind. Send a message to the recipient. Politicians who take prepared phrases out of their pockets don’t talk, they communicate. Speakers who read their cards one after the other are not speaking — they are broadcasting their ideas. To speak is to create an event in which meaning can be born. To speak is to take risks: life without invention cannot be human life. Animals communicate, and even communicate very successfully. They have exceptionally sophisticated communication systems. But they don’t speak.