Yesterday, I wrote on Facebook that people often wonder where I'm going when I pose a thought or question. Sometimes I know where I am headed and just want to see what others are thinking about it before I say what I am thinking. As soon as I speak, I change the color on the "canvass" (the listener's understanding) and I lose the ability to know what the canvass looked like before I spoke. [Other times I pose a question to see how open people might be to my answer.]
Communication has three parts – one, me as communicator; two, the thing I am communicating, three, the reader or listener and what that person is really hearing from me. People do not hear what others say as much as they take what others say and process it through their own intricate web of personality, personal history, and perceived understanding. So sometimes it is helpful to understand our audience before we say too much, and honest questions are a good way to do that.
Or, sometimes, I may not know where my question is leading and I am wondering why it has not already been asked. I often start a blog posting in the same way: here is a thought, now where does it lead? I am intrigued by where the thought takes me. Start with a presumed truth (by me at least) that "God is love." Now how does that statement affect my relationships, my politics, my schedule for the week, my spending, and so on? Turn it into a question as in, "If God is love, then what does that mean for … (this situation or that issue or this person)?" You open all kinds of possibilities you never considered before. Doesn't hurt to challenge the assumption either: "Is God really love?" – and allow for the possibility that the answer is "No" and then pursue the idea, "What IF God isn't love?"
Leave it a statement ("God is love") and people are inclined to say "Amen" and keep on hating their neighbor or abusing their kids or ignoring the needy. Turn that statement into a question in some form and we cannot ignore it with a simple "Amen."
I am also intrigued by where a thought goes, because people often assume the trail. Just as often their assumptions are wrong. We'd still be reading this blog on parchment by candlelight if Edison had assumed the usual trail of thought in regards to electricity – after all, thousands of years of human understanding can't be all wrong, can it?
Take the maxim, "Charity begins at home." To make that statement doesn't necessarily make it true, does it? I might be inclined to ask things like: "If charity begins at home, what does that mean for me sending money to help in Haiti?" Or, "Is it really true that charity begins at home?" "Is that saying really in the Bible?" (a commonly held assumption) "Could it mean that we have to start learning charity right in our own familiar world first before we can express it elsewhere?" The list is endless and opens up all kinds of further questions that can lead to whole new understandings about life and about myself.
One of my favorite lines over the years has been that "Communists brush their teeth."
Now out of context, all kinds of responses can come to mind. Before you read on, say that phrase ("Communists brush their teeth") and then complete the sentence or give a response. Be honest and write it down, because as soon as I say what I am about to say, you will alter what you were going to say and maybe not even admit to yourself what originally came to mind.
I have used that phrase, "Communists brush their teeth," because in most circles, Communists are seen as the personification of Evil itself. Among the friends I have who are actually members of Communist parties, you'd be hard pressed to prove that point. But there are people who would stop brushing their teeth today if I equated teeth-brushing with something that is Communist. The point being that A + B does not always equal C. A: Communists are evil. B: Communists brush their teeth. C: Brushing your teeth is evil. Sounds ludicrous doesn't it. At least one of these assumptions is wrong or the equation doesn't work.
I have often used that statement, "Communists brush their teeth," to show that just because someone is a Communist does not mean that everything they think or do is wrong. You could as easily use it to show that just because someone does something right doesn't mean everything they do is right. In either case, we have just opened up a whole new set of windows in our thinking processes. And that is good because light shines in and light leads us to truth and truth sets us free. Or maybe we should question those assumptions, too. Did Jesus really say that? And if he did, what did he mean by that? Amen.
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