October 22, 2014

October 22, 2014

Written by Maximus Peperkamp, M.S. Verbal Behaviorist

Dear Reader, 

 

The verbal behavior of most people is most of the time a function of the Noxious Verbal Behavior (NVB) contingency. Surely, the Sound Verbal Behavior (SVB) contingency can be created, but, since we don’t know how to maintain it, SVB always comes and goes. SVB is most of the time impossible because there is nothing to make it happen with. Not surprisingly, those who try to create an environment in which SVB is possible are usually the ones who are suffering multiple problems. 

It is the lack of comfort, the inability to handle stress and the refusal to accept the so-called solutions that didn’t work, which sets the stage for SVB. Also, it is the impatience with and the counter-control towards those who are enforcing the falsehoods of NVB, which paves the way for SVB. Furthermore, it is the voice of the powerless, of those who are rejected, fired, locked up, the criminal, insane or addicted, who can’t stand the oppression and insults, which prepares the ground for SVB. 

This writer knows who he has met, he knows why he has met them and he knows how he has met them. His ability to distinguish between SVB and NVB gets him accepted and praised by all the underdogs of this world. It turned out to be this way and he never decided this, but it makes total sense when one thinks of it. There may not seem much unity in the problems that so many people struggle with worldwide, but this writer knows that more togetherness is possible by embracing our problems than by pretending that these problems don’t exist. He is not attracted to problems as such, but to the challenge they present to communicate the real solution. 

SVB is a way of communicating which makes all our problems meaningful. It has often been said that our problems are meaningless, but this is because we have given up on finding meaning during our interactions. Only when we have faced the meaninglessness of our lives do we find out about what is meaningful. This real meaning isn’t about a book, ritual, partner, group, possession, identity, country, family, job, adventure, affair or recovery from addiction. Real meaning is about how we communicate together. During SVB we are communicating meaningfully.