CONSIDER – ‘TALKING’. . .

In saying what I have in mind will I really improve on the silence? –Robert K. Greenleaf

Yesterday as I was sitting in one of my favorite Starbucks cafes reading, a young man, I will call him Daniel, sat down in the chair next to me.  We greeted one another and after a few minutes Daniel inquired as to what I was reading.  I told him that I was reading Zygmunt Bauman’s ‘Strangers at Our Door.’

Daniel asked me what it was about and I told him about Bauman and his interest in immigration and refugees and that this book was published a year after his death (2016); it was the last book that Bauman had written.  We then engaged in a stimulating conversation about refugees and immigration.

After Daniel left I began to reflect a bit.  The word/concept ‘Talking’ emerged into my consciousness and I began to think about this word/concept.  Here is some of what emerged into my reflective consciousness; the following are listed in no particular order.

• A QUESTION: How often do I talk because I am not at peace with my thoughts?
• At times I find that I talk when I am no longer able to dwell in the solitude of my own heart – my ‘talking’ does not have to be spoken out loud.
• At times I find that I talk when I need a diversion/distraction from…
• I realize that at my worst, my talking depletes, even directly stifles, my ability to think/reflect.
• A QUESTION: How often are my words like a cage that keeps my thoughts from taking wing? The image of a large bird trapped in a small cage, a cage so small that the bird cannot even stretch its wings, emerged into my consciousness.
• A QUESTION: How often do I talk because I am fear-full of being alone? The silence that comes with being alone often reveals my ‘self’ to me and when I am in the dark places this ‘self’ is a ‘self’ I want to escape from.  Talking provides me with the illusion of escape – again, my ‘talking’ does not have to be spoken out loud.
• Many years ago a person said to me, ‘You talk and talk and talk and then you might begin to make sense.’ He told me this was a compliment.
• Now it is not all negative, at times talking reveals to me a truth that I do not understand. At times my silence hides a truth that I am hesitant, if not fear-full, of revealing.  A truth that I might reveal if I talk.  I recall a wise person telling us that at times our silence can put us in a spot of bother.
• A QUESTION: How often do I allow my inner guide, my ‘spirit,’ to guide my talking?

Gentle Reader, what does the word/concept ‘Talking’ bring to your mind as you reflect upon it.

I will leave us with the words of that wise philosopher, Yogi Berra:

It was impossible getting a conversation going, everybody was talking too much.