It used to be different. First, they would teach children (unTh) — a powerful learning game which empowered children to establish and enhance direct connectivity with other minds and webs of life. This was a self-expanding heuristic with infinite depth and momentum. Only AFTER a child learned unTh, were they –allowed- to learn language.

Then, one day, we started to get it backwards.

We are the result; no one around here has any idea what unTh is, and nearly everyone uses language in ways that largely or completely inhibit it. So now we have words and stories where we used to have a tree of abilities. But we still carry the capacity for unTh, and this is, in part, why such stories continue to emerge and captivate our interest. Under the right conditions we can awaken and develop it. And perhaps, one day, we shall again teach it to our children before we teach them language.