Thought for the day - July 16, 2000

Subject: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: katlaughing
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 12:57 AM

Shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know it; and when you don't know a thing, to allow that you don't know it. This is knowledge.

- Confucious -

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: bbelle
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 01:27 AM

kat ... true, oh so true!

I think Big Bubba said the same thing, just worded a little differently ...

"If'n you don't know what the hell you're jawin' about, keep you damn mouth shut!"

moonchild

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: Amergin
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 01:49 AM

Reminds me of something else I heard a time or two: There's no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid people."

Amergin

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 01:50 AM

Katlaughing -

How true that is. To be aware that you do not know something leaves you open to gain knowledge. When I took Aikido years ago, the Sensai (master) emphasized how we should have a child-mind, or "no-mind," in the present, always open for new knowledge. How about when we see this in music - someone who thinks they're hot stuff, but has been playing the same 10 or 12 tunes for the past ten years, with no noticeable improvement. The people with some humility and self-knowledge about their present limitations, and of what they do right, seem more likely to musically blossom.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: catspaw49
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 02:25 AM

Hey Amergin......That's an old tried and true line that lots of people use and believe. The underlying idea is excellent when it comes to knowledge I agree. But after many years as a rep, manager, and corporate sales trainer for a "biggee," I guarantee that when it comes to the art of selling professionally, there IS such a thing as a "stupid question."

Most of us only view questions as a means of gaining knowledge, but they are the prime method used to direct and control a conversation. A pro can carry on a conversation for an indefinite period of time and never make a statement, or will at least tail a brief statement with a question. People who cannot acquire this skill will never be at the top of that particular field. And even the white, oxford cloth, button down, folks at Xerox will agree with me on that one!!!

Past life..........makes me shudder sometimes.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: Morticia
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 11:06 AM

Boy,'Spaw you got that right! In my line of work ( social services) we have senior managers who can come down, specifically to meet with the troops and answer questions........hold an hours seminar on the art of never answering a question and free-style, meaningless rhetoric and then push off, leaving us to go 'HUH?'in unison.These are the people who get promoted, that skill being prized above all others.....and the reason I never will be, which is okay by me.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: Gervase
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 04:48 PM

It reminds of a former colleague, a journalist I hugely admired. He was a 'colour writer' in the days when that didn't mean prose that was purely purple.
John had the knack of being able to capture the essence and atmosphere of wherever he was, whether it was in Tiananmen Square, riding for his life on a borrowed Flying Pigeon bicycle or writing about the funeral of an East End gangster.
He left journalism to start a second family, but hasn't lost his style - I read a piece we wrote about being shipwrecked off the Shetlands - written when he was still dripping from being winched off the upturned hull of his boat - that brought the old lump to the Anyway, I'm wittering...
The point is, I asked John once how he would sum up his style. He looked over the edge of his glass and said: 'The fact is, Im very stupid. ' He grinned, and went on: 'Mparents squandered a fortune on an education that went straight over my head, and university was out of the question. So I thought I'd try journalism, starting on a local paper and working up.
I suddenly found that here was one area where it paid to be stupid. You askagain for answers that everyone thinks they know, just to clarify it them you own slow mind.
'And when you're describing something, if you look at it from the point of view of the ordinary person in the street - or even a 12 year old child - then you can begin to explain how what you are seeing is what happens at the other end of politics and after all the clever people have done their bit.' It sounds trite, but what I admired was that John was able to admit that he'd never stopped looking at the world through the eyes of an incredibly inquisitive but not academically bright 12-year-old, and to know that it made him a beter writer.
Sorry, a bit of a ramble, I know, but it late. Still time for one before closing time (10.30 on a Sunday? Absolutely bloody mad...but don't start me on that one!)

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: GUEST,emily b
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 07:11 PM

Being able to admit that I don't know something is the best thing about getting older. I am so much more comfortable with my ignorance than I used to be.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 08:10 PM

There's a paradox about getting to know more things.

Every new thing you learn makes you aware of more things that you don't know. If you don't know much, than there's not that much you know you don't know. But if you know a lot, the amount you know you don't know is enormous.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: SINSULL
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 10:17 PM

Morticia,
The true "genius" at the non-answer would have left you all nodding knowingly. It'a all in the telling.

Subject: RE: Thought for the day - July 16, 2000
From: Amergin
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 10:45 PM