Thought I would try and act like a decent human being and actually try and listen to people at the company Christmas do, rather than talk about stuff I wanted to talk about, you know, like my first half IM. Boy it was boring. All they could talk about was their cats and stuff. I left early utterly exhausted at all the inane drivel. Decided the best parties are where everyone is talking at once, especially when the music is loud and the alcohol is flowing. Far better than being polite to people.
I spent a few minutes before going to bed considering the true nature of time: essentially time, like everything else, is just a thought, and as Einstein says, it’s main purpose is simply so that everything doesn’t happen at once. Basically, if we achieve our ultimate goal as spiritual entities of being at one with everything there is and everything there ever could be, then time is very important to put some structure around it. I have learned not to raise such issues during dinner, since people start yawning, but what could be more important than that? Does anyone know where you can get a decent conversation these days?
“Does anyone know where you can get a decent conversation these days?”
I feel your pain.
The solution, perhaps suprisingly, is Tibbs’ Lavender Room. Read though the topics of the last few pages. We have some really entertaining philosophical discussions here.
Pick your favorite Big Picture question and post it. We have recently delt with questions in ethics, epistimology, cosmology, asthetics and metaphysics.
Thought I would try and act like a decent human being and actually try and listen to people at the company Christmas do, rather than talk about stuff I wanted to talk about, you know, like my first half IM. Boy it was boring. All they could talk about was their cats and stuff. I left early utterly exhausted at all the inane drivel. Decided the best parties are where everyone is talking at once, especially when the music is loud and the alcohol is flowing. Far better than being polite to people.
I spent a few minutes before going to bed considering the true nature of time: essentially time, like everything else, is just a thought, and as Einstein says, it’s main purpose is simply so that everything doesn’t happen at once. Basically, if we achieve our ultimate goal as spiritual entities of being at one with everything there is and everything there ever could be, then time is very important to put some structure around it. I have learned not to raise such issues during dinner, since people start yawning, but what could be more important than that? Does anyone know where you can get a decent conversation these days?
Marky Mark, you and your funky bunch of thoughts ought to come out to play more often. I find these two paragraphs somewhat ironic, quite interesting, and extremely refreshing to see in the Lavender Room, thank you.
My take is that if you had actually heard what they were saying it would not have been boring, but because you were listening for something, it was. The difference between hearing and listening? Time! When we truly see and hear, time stops and the intensity of being is such that we are one with our external and internal environment. When we look and listen, time takes over and our spiritual link is weak.
The reason this doesn’t work over dinner is because a knee-jerk reaction is usually meaningless, you’d need to tell people beforehand what the dinner time discussion was going to consist of, such that they might put the intent of being struck by insight before then.
too true: at the Xmas party I wasn’t really wanting to listen: listening is a process of engagement, whether you say anything or not. I was sitting back and judging, rather than listening with an open heart. Some of my most memorable times have been when I have said nothing at all, but was actively engaged in listening to what the person was saying, not judging what they were saying. They managed to sort out all sorts of stuff.
Last night we had our traditional pre-Xmas dinner out with a group of friends: we’ve been meeting up for nine years in a row. The conversation flowed, everybody was involved and before we knew it the restaurant was closing up and we had to go. I wouldn’t say time flew, because that implies a waste of a precious commodity: instead, we were simply not aware of the time, we were too engaged in the moment. We all felt great. It was no effort at all to listen.
Wow - I would kill for a few good cat stories. We’ve had the hottie thread, the bike pic thread - how about a cat story thread? I could see that one going on for years!