Somewhere between seventy and thirty thousand years ago something happened to the wiring of Human (Sapiens) brains: a cognitive revolution.

This thought from Yuval Noah Harari is influencing my thinking today.

Harari’s words are in a book I’m reading at the moment, yet another person who’ll never step inside my home but will influence me with his words.  I’m surrounded by hundreds of such people as I write.

The power of words: the power of language.

We might take this amazing Human development for granted: our worlds are full of language form, content, and meaning.

‘The most commonly believed theory argues that accidental genetic mutations changed the inner wiring of the brains of the Sapiens, enabling them to think in unprecedented ways and to communicate using an altogether new type of language.’*

Words open up possibilities for life not as we know it.**

“Tell me, what is your plan to do/With your one wild and precious life?”^

Perhaps flourish?

(*From Yuval Noah Harari’s Sapiens.)
(**Sorry for the Star Trek allusion.)
(^From a poem by Mary Oliver, quoted in Mindfulness by Mindfullybeing.)