Thinking, Believing, Speaking And Doing

I love chatting with people, especially the chance to have a deep conversation about each other’s deeply held views, beliefs and hopes. I have worked with thousands of people from various backgrounds and have loved the conversations we have shared. Dinner-parties are always lively with earnest opinions being volleyed around the dinner-table.

I love thought-provoking questions. Interesting questions indeed for this week’s SHARE-YOUR-WORLD, hosted by the wonderful sparksfromacombustiblemind:

https://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2019/06/24/share-your-world-6-24-19/

Questions

Are you more a thinker or a doer? (credit to Cyranny of Cyranny’s Cove for this one)

Ooooh – I don’t know anymore! I have been a doer, since I was sixteen. Before that I was probably more of a thinker, because when you are a kiddo, there seems to be less opportunity to be a doer. But even when I became a doer, I was always a bit of a thinker too. Since I was attacked, I have been less of a doer, I have had to make more time for rest, and I try not to think too much about what can overwhelm me. I try to distract my thinking from anything that would weigh me down. I am going to confuse myself with this question!

I think Marta, one of my flatmates and best friends, made a fairly accurate observation, although she did not perhaps use the most flattering term. One day we were having coffee break within the infirmary with our managers, and Marta announced (I cannot remember how the conversation had been developing): “MELODY IS THE PERFECT NUMBER TWO!” After a few chuckles…Marta defended her statement. She was trying to say that I am a very supportive person and friend. She was right. I have always needed a leader, someone who will come up with ideas, make decisions and make rules. Then I do the “doing”, I work hard to make it happen, I help their ideas come to fruition and make their decisions successful. On my own, I don’t really have a lot of natural initiative. I depend on my life experience and all the things I have learnt from the thousands of people I have worked with.

Why is beauty associated with mortality?

All that is coming into my head is the woeful Lady Of Shalott!

I have to admit, I did not realize that it was. Am I reading the question correctly? Do some associate beauty with increased mortality? I am a bit confuzzled.

Maybe I should wait and see how some other bloggers answer this question before I start fudging my answer.

If everyone spoke their mind (told the literal truth), would this world be a better place?

There is a time to speak and a time to keep quiet!

I have to admit…as someone who has been trained to behave as a princess and to always converse with great diplomacy and tact, to reign in one’s thoughts and tongue when dealing with the most absurd, preposterous and pompous of characters, the temptation to speak one’s mind is something rather to eschew.

Rarely does an audience truly wish for anything but praise, pacification and platitudes, it would be unforgivable to speak one’s mind without invitation, and even upon receiving such, care should be taken so as not to be belligerent. I have been at many functions, ceremonies, events acting in a role in which I had to greet and converse with some quite ridiculous folk, but I had to conduct myself with the utmost grace. Speaking my mind would have been unpardonable…but now I can write about those experiences under the anonymity that this blog allows me.

In addition, it is prudent to remember that someone might speak the truth to the very best of their understanding and still be wildly mistaken. So speaking one’s mind is not generally the wise and beneficial course. This is one of the reasons why we ought not to be hasty with our words. We should remember that our view is limited and our understanding is often incomplete and imperfect. And it would be an extremely rare circumstance that one should feel that “telling the truth” is vindication  for being cruel!

Personally, I think if everyone went around speaking their mind, a lot of damage may be caused. But humility, modesty and a spirit of kindness and mildness should mark our words. This is likely to earn respect from others. We all have our moments when we lose balance and blurt out what we are thinking and feeling. But on the whole, diplomacy, tact, grace and eloquence are very beautiful characters of speech that I am attracted to. Why would you want to have a conversation with somebody who is brutal with their words? It can feel as if they are punching you! It is a beautiful art to adorn one’s speech in such a manner that people take delight in listening to your words, even your candidness.

Of course in a more familiar setting, amongst family and close friends,  honest conversations are of course healthy and one may choose to be more frank and open with one’s views and opinions than in the general public domain.

However, there are some occasions…when urgency takes priority. If someone is clearly heading for harm, one ought to get to the point. There are some occasions when it is clear that graciousness is not appropriate. Those times, it may be incumbent to be direct and not to mince any of your words. Or if somebody is behaving in a threatening manner, we should not shy away from making it clear that we are on guard.

Can religious beliefs affect scientific thinking?

Erm…where do I begin?

I don’t think I can really do this question justice right now because I am working on my tablet in a cafe. But essentially religious truth and scientific truth ought to harmonize. If they don’t, there is a problem. It is foolish to be dogmatic and unreasonable about such questions as how did life begin? Is there a Creator who cares about us? What hope is there for the future?

That problem could be a limited or mistaken understanding or an arrogant presumption and haughty bias. For example…Galileo and Copernicus were met with utter ignorance and arrogant stupidity. I still believe that certain religious fundamentalists do great harm in some of their claims. They go beyond the word of God and state things that are not balanced and are not scriptural. They make themselves look unreasonable and belligerent. In the same way, any scientist who is dogmatic and rules out the possibility of an intelligent designer and Creator is questionable.

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Attitude of Gratitude

If you’d like to, share some gratitude in photo, written form or song:

Well…it certainly was not the summer of ’69 (even my parents were kiddos back then!), but I chose this song because it captures the spirit of having a blast with someone who makes life shine and sparkle! I am so grateful to Goldfinch for making me feel this way: