I always find it intersting when people launch into "this is how it is"-type communication without having the realism to say "This is what I BELIEVE or EXPERIENCE." Call me crazy, but I prefer most sweeping statements of "truth" to have some context of credibility within which to view them. (As in, "You learned it HOW? And did you mean to communicate that this was the end of your exploration of the matter? Or might you, being human, be at some specific point along a journey of discovery-- is this what you see and think in THIS memment?) But what I experience is that a forum sure is a good place to rip off a paragraph or two of absolutes, from some distance and free of anything messy like a day-in-day-out relationship to complicate the communication-- you know, no need to actually try to live out the stated "truth" where someone might actually be close enough to see how it's working in application, or if it is being applied at all.... those little life details tend to get a little messier than the proclamations that seem so sensible in a setting like this. :~)

I also find it very interesting that people think their sweeping belief statements will have any value in a setting where the more, the merrier.... pop up a fresh tissue every 60 seconds for another world-shaking, life-changing TRUTH--- listen up, here's the REAL THING this time.... oops there goes another one... till it's all a soup of indeterminate flavor and nutritional content.... and it's used-kleenex soup, at that. Well, maybe there is something in it all-- there goes a piece of corn floating by now; mmm, tastes good.... but I bet know where I'll see THAT kernel next...

We hash these Major Life Questions out week after week in a class designed to make the communication WORK. And as interesting as this thread might be for a moment's entertainment, that class is (IMO) far more interesting. We do the real-life work necessary to earn an openness of mutual communication, and give as much value as we're asking for.

~Susan