‘Underneath’ what we are saying there is a second domain of meaning that few of us will ever become formally conscious of.

In order to observe and interpret it, we must have some idea what we are looking for. It may be imagined as a secondary domain of communication and meaning which is encoded in choices rather than in terms, and is comprised of a few components we may distinguish as follows: One is the choices we make about topic and approach. Another is the implications of those choices insofar as they relate to intention and unconscious bias that may be there expressed. A third is the emotional implications of the first two. Another is the specific words chosen and how they are arranged within the communication’s structure.

Essentially, behind our words are choices, and these choices, taken in turn, together, form a kind of music or agenda-object which is readable and astonishing to behold. Even now, here, in this little paragraph, this secret language is present and available.

If you learn to read it, and you will find it to be a subject difficult to exhaust, you will essentially become a different species, in terms of your communication skills. And if you also observe yourself this way, without being obsessed with it, you will discover many hidden aspects of your own mind and its peculiar symmetries of conflicting intent which are present in nearly every act of formal communication.