At one time, I thought I had to always try to convince others that what I felt was important was what they understood. If someone challenged me, I always thought I had to go until the end when I was able to prove myself correct. It seemed like a badge of honor to be abl
e to stand up and get people to understand just how right I thought I was in life. Like many people do, I felt that I needed to be right!
With the advent of the internet message boards and now things such as comments on news articles or facebook, and constant 24 hour news pundits, there is a need for people to try and prove to others just how much they think they know. It is like a strong magnet that really pulls the comments out of people and forces them to type them into the mega-sphere of the internet. In addition, the internet allows us to be anonymous when writing comments so in many ways, it does not seem like we are really responding to a human life form.
Much of the time when people have to force their ideals upon others, it really shows a lack of insecurity and often times, immaturity. While they may have a considerable amount to say and it may have merit to it, often the need to expound upon these things gets in the way of the message.
At one time, I thought I had to respond to everything written and prove my point. I thought that if I did not, it made me weak. Of course, subscribing to some of the thought philosophies expounded upon through the media pundits, I thought I was armed with the truth. In many ways, some of this reminds me of the brainwashing I received at the hands of the church. Truth be told, many religions do this in overt and sometimes in very subtle ways.
As I am learning though, some times, it is more wise and prudent to just not say much. There is no need to engage this part of human civilization because most likely if someone has their mind made up that they hold the truth, what you say is not going to matter at all. Sometimes, the stronger person is the one that can walk away and allow the other person to wallow in their own insecurity.
There are things that truly matter in this world and most of the public discourse taking place these days does not rise to that level. If you took out much of what is being discussed these days, life would still continue to go on.
I remember my mom telling me often that you can be silent and make people wonder or you can open your mouth and remove all doubt. It is amazing to me to see just how true that is. There are many people that speak to hear themselves speak or in the case of the internet, write to see their words on the public screen. If everyone took a step back at times and really thought about what they were going to say, the level of humanity and respect in this world would rise at least ten fold. Just because a person is able to speak or write what they think is right, does not necessarily mean it is uplifting, supporting, encouraging or helpful to the greater good of mankind.
I'm left with the thought about how our words impact water and since our bodies are around 70% water (give or take), words impact us powerfully. All one has to do is read some of the research that Dr. Masaru Emoto has done or try some of the experiments he has done to see the effects. The words we put out say a lot about how we view humanity and how we view ourselves. Just changing the words that we speak or write, has an enormous effect on the world around us.
Sometimes the wiser person is the one that can walk away from the discussion because they see the bigger and broader picture of life. Needing to be right in everything does very little advance human consciousness along.
Further Reading:
1) Hidden Messages (blog post 3/30/2009)
2) Hidden Messages In Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto
Blog Post & Images (c) 2/19/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com
e to stand up and get people to understand just how right I thought I was in life. Like many people do, I felt that I needed to be right!With the advent of the internet message boards and now things such as comments on news articles or facebook, and constant 24 hour news pundits, there is a need for people to try and prove to others just how much they think they know. It is like a strong magnet that really pulls the comments out of people and forces them to type them into the mega-sphere of the internet. In addition, the internet allows us to be anonymous when writing comments so in many ways, it does not seem like we are really responding to a human life form.
Much of the time when people have to force their ideals upon others, it really shows a lack of insecurity and often times, immaturity. While they may have a considerable amount to say and it may have merit to it, often the need to expound upon these things gets in the way of the message.
At one time, I thought I had to respond to everything written and prove my point. I thought that if I did not, it made me weak. Of course, subscribing to some of the thought philosophies expounded upon through the media pundits, I thought I was armed with the truth. In many ways, some of this reminds me of the brainwashing I received at the hands of the church. Truth be told, many religions do this in overt and sometimes in very subtle ways.
As I am learning though, some times, it is more wise and prudent to just not say much. There is no need to engage this part of human civilization because most likely if someone has their mind made up that they hold the truth, what you say is not going to matter at all. Sometimes, the stronger person is the one that can walk away and allow the other person to wallow in their own insecurity.
There are things that truly matter in this world and most of the public discourse taking place these days does not rise to that level. If you took out much of what is being discussed these days, life would still continue to go on.
I remember my mom telling me often that you can be silent and make people wonder or you can open your mouth and remove all doubt. It is amazing to me to see just how true that is. There are many people that speak to hear themselves speak or in the case of the internet, write to see their words on the public screen. If everyone took a step back at times and really thought about what they were going to say, the level of humanity and respect in this world would rise at least ten fold. Just because a person is able to speak or write what they think is right, does not necessarily mean it is uplifting, supporting, encouraging or helpful to the greater good of mankind.
I'm left with the thought about how our words impact water and since our bodies are around 70% water (give or take), words impact us powerfully. All one has to do is read some of the research that Dr. Masaru Emoto has done or try some of the experiments he has done to see the effects. The words we put out say a lot about how we view humanity and how we view ourselves. Just changing the words that we speak or write, has an enormous effect on the world around us.
Sometimes the wiser person is the one that can walk away from the discussion because they see the bigger and broader picture of life. Needing to be right in everything does very little advance human consciousness along.
Further Reading:
1) Hidden Messages (blog post 3/30/2009)
2) Hidden Messages In Water by Dr. Masaru Emoto
Blog Post & Images (c) 2/19/11 Don Shetterly - use by permission only
http://www.donshetterly.com
