I'd be the first to admit I'm pedantic - words are very important to me and the phrase "say what you mean and mean what you say" is never far from my consciousness. Not that I'm perfect at doing this - far from it - nor am I entirely consistent and frequently fall into the attitude trap of "do what I say and not what I do". But then, don't we all! This graph to the right cut a little too close for comfort. In recent weeks in some of my online messaging (as opposed to emails where one tends to give the words a little more care), I've found myself living on the right hand side of the graph: I agree, but I don't like how someone else is crafting the words to articulate the issue - I feel they've constructed the wrong emphases, or placed a different spin on the discussion that leaves me saying "but, but ..." This dilemma is an inadequacy arising from the intersection of the pace of life and the requirements of language - we use emojis and cryptic shorthand, with incomplete statements that leave so much to be assumed. We don't give language enough time to complete its communication purpose, and so live out our stationary lives in a frenzied stew of sound bites. Where does this fit in with the spiritual Christian? Well, (too infrequently) we're communicating with the non-Christian (left hand side of the graph), and while the rhetoric can get heated, by and large the level of conflict usually doesn’t get too intense. However, our communication is often embarrassingly one-dimensional and of little depth, which perhaps unproductively helps keep the conflict low. On the other hand, a large proportion of Christians spend their time in the presumed safe zone of the right hand side of the graph. There we say we agree, yet we become heated in our exchanges over the perceived inadequacies of someone else's articulation, upset over the emphases inferred, and feel that our personal priorities are challenged. I confess I love the left hand side of the graph and avoid the right hand side as much as possible! Yet Jesus prayed that we would be unified. (Sigh) I guess he prays for us on the right hand side because that is the more difficult side of the graph. Co-exploration through thoughtful dialogue between unlike-minded people: now there's a good path to practical humility. (Because why debate with those who are like-minded? You've agreed on the answer and are merely creating an echo chamber).
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Why?
Probably the best therapy is to express yourself. Why do you think psychiatrists make you lie on the couch and talk, while all they do is murmur "hmmm", "uhuh", or "go on"? Archives
May 2017
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