Unity and Communication

One thing that has become abundantly clear to me in the past month is that there cannot be unity without direct and honest, yet peaceful and loving communication. I'm still trying to unpack this link, but communication seems so essential to producing unity or causing discord, depending on the nature of the communication.

Without directness or honesty, pent up emotions, frustrations, grudges, etc. tend to build up. Without loving kindness, appreciation for others and forgiveness for hurtful actions becomes more difficult. Thus, it seems so important to establish healthy forms of communication early on in any kind of friendship/relationship, as well as within our work and spiritual communities, so that we create patterns that are conduciveness of unity, harmony and cooperation.

I would love to hear your thoughts about how we use communication in different situations and in different kinds of relationships to build unity. I would also love it if you would share any writings you know related to the relationship between unity and communication.

Here are just a couple to get the conversation (hopefully) started.

Quote 1:
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” -Ephesians 4:1-3

This isn't just about the way we behave in our vocation. I understand this more generally to be about making ourselves worthy of the grace God has shown us in instilling us with the potentialities to exude His virtues ("I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favour upon thee." -Baha'u'llah).
We must endeavour, meaning me must work diligently to build unity and the bond of peace.
We must humble ourselves with one another (the lowliness and meekness).
We must forbear ourselves to be loving with one another; by this I understand it to mean that we should control ourselves when provoked and practice our patience with one another. And we do this by demonstrating our love.

Quote 2:
"The beloved of God must, like the roses of the rose-garden, send fragrant messages from one to another, receive strength from one another, and co-operate together, by the strength of the Kingdom. There is no greater means than communion and communication. 'Communication is half a meeting.'" -Abdu'l-Baha

I also love this image of sending fragrant messages to one another, which I understand to mean communicating with others in ways that exude beauteous loving-kindness. What does it mean for communication to be half a meeting? The first time I read this, I accidentally read "a half meeting", which I understood to mean that we must seek compromise in our communication. Perhaps that isn't far off? What do others think?