Representing the Tone of God's Voice

God spoke to Moses. In my mind, I usually imagine a deep commanding voice...you know, the stereotype. But what clues to we really have about the TONE of God's voice? Not many... but if you think about it, it's vitally important for understanding the text of the torah. Is God calm? Angry? Sarcastic? Whispering? Gritting his teeth? Cool? You really don't know. It's up to the reader to imagine the "mood" of God when he's speaking.

Comic book artists don't have this problem; that's what word balloons are for. If God's angry, use an "electric" word balloon, filled with spikey points. If He's whispering, use a dotted line word balloon. These are the graphic symbols for representing speach. But think about how much fun you could have putting the text in different word balloon shapes. The shape of the word balloon completely changes the tone and mood of the voiced embodied therein. If we got into the habit of drawing speech balloons of our own design around the words of God (that is, the uttered "speech" of God), then we would be contributing in the listening of God, and ultimately the understanding of God. For the tone of someone's voice communicates just as much, if not more, than the words actually uttered. In fact, the tone and tenor of someones's voice, the "pre-verbal" noises that make communicate so much. But if all we're hearing are God's "words", God still needs our help in assigning a "voice" or a tone to those words. Comic book artists, based on their reading of God's tone, can design a thought balloon or a speech balloon which best represents that tone.

"Between thought and expression lies a lifetime" -- Lou Reed

...and a word balloon. Indeed.