Category Archives: Philosophy

Cat: Yeah, like I’m the idiot…

So I walk in to the room to find my cat staring at a blank wall.  I ask it “Hey…what’s up?”

Slowly she turns her head and gives me the look — the “Are you kidding me?” look.

“What?” I ask.  “I’m just being friendly — trying to start a conversation.” I say.

Again she gives me that “You’re an idiot, right?” look.

“Fine.” I say “Never mind.  I’ll just move along.”

At which point she slowly turns her head back toward the wall and resumes intently staring at that every-so-interesting-nothingness that is the blank wall.

 

Words have NO meaning!

“Words have no meaning.”

Those words were tossed at me by one of my English professors while attending U.C. Berkeley.  Now, it’s been many years since college and unfortunately I don’t remember the Prof’s name that told us that, but what a powerful lesson.

What do I mean words have no meaning — of course they do? It’s an illusion my friend. Most of us have never differentiated the word (spoken or written) with its meaning — but the subtle difference is there. Words have no meaning as they are mere containers for meaning. Just as a can of corn is not corn, but a container for corn. On the can there is a picture of corn and when we look at that can, we all have an agreed-upon notion of what it contains — of what it means.

So this analogy closely explains words. The combination of a series of letters, forming a particular word, have within a language, an agreed-upon meaning. The word itself is therefore just a container for that meaning. Why is this important?

It is important to understand this subtle difference because believing that a particular word only has the meaning as defined in your head — placed there by your education and experiences — may not be the exact meaning as the person with whom you are speaking. When the person you are communicating with uses a particular word in an attempt to pass meaning to you, and your meanings differ, then communication fails, possibly leading to misunderstandings and conflict.

One word can do this you ask? Maybe. But more likely a series of words, sentences, paragraphs, etc., with subtle meaning differences surely can. And when this failure to pass meaning from one to another happens, usually the recipient has the issue — be it confusion, anger, or something else. But whose fault is it that meaning is not passed correctly? Is it the speaker/writer who is certain that a word means one thing, or the recipient who knows the word means something else?

The point I’m trying to make here is that in communication, the best tool we have to pass “meaning” between each other is language (without getting existential here), but that tool is not perfect. So when communicating, allow the sender of meaning to verify that meaning is transferred properly. When listening, and before assuming a particular meaning, don’t hesitate to ask for confirmation from the speaker. Saying “so I hear you saying this…” is perfectly acceptable and desirable before taking something the wrong way. Of course, when asking for confirmation, you really must allow the other person the opportunity to say “no, I meant this instead….”

9.5, 9.8 and from the Austrian Judge…. a perfect 10!

“Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.”

“Don’t judge others.”

We have been given lots of advice about not judging others and yet, on a minute-by-minute basis, we are bombarded by calls for us to judge others from friends, acquaintances, the media, and the government. Much of this judgement is overt while quite often our being asked to agree with another’s opinion about someone or a group of people is disguised as a call to sympathize with our friends/government, etc.

So should we not judge? I think the complete abstinence from judgement is not only impossible, but at times ill-advised. So what then? How about a compromise? How about we judge only those with which we’ve had first-hand experience? In these situations, only our direct senses are influencing us. In these cases we also remove ourselves from being pawns to propaganda, ulterior motives, corruption, etc.

No absolutes! Huh? My readers can and always will find exceptions to anything written. So don’t bother looking for the one or few examples that contradict the wisdom of this idea. Analyze, think, discuss, even argue against this if you will, but honestly consider the overwhelming wisdom of this mode of operation — that judgements from first-hand experiences far outweigh the value of anything passed-on second-hand.

So…I dare you to reserve your opinion about something or someone for those times when the opinion is purely yours and not a regurgitation of someone else’s [well-crafted] story.