Christ Centered Gamer

Why do we, humans and homo sapiens, truly never properly communicate?
Yes there are two types of people on the planet but that's for another thread LoL!
Why do we? Your thoughts?

Good communication is as much about speaking clearly as it is about awareness of how your words are received by the audience. That's not easy for us humans to do, because our egos like to think we're being perfectly, unambiguously, crystal clear in every effort we make to communicate a message.

The reality is that we aren't nearly as clear as we think we are, and the fact that different people just think differently complicates the mix even further.

Well the main reasons for communication are to be heard and to receive information. We like the first, because it feeds into our pride, but the second can be a lot trickier because sometimes what we want to hear and what we do hear are two very different things.

As ArcticFox says, we also forget that things that are crystal clear in our own minds are not crystal clear to others. That can be a large barrier too.

The internet is even harder since we usually don't see each other to pick up on tone or facial cues

Definitely. Even among people who know each other in real life it's amazing how easily tone and meaning can get lost when it's just the written(typed) word.

Was thinking more on this subject yesterday, and here is what I wrote down:

Questions are difficult because language is difficult. Language fills a gap for us. It is a way for us to communicate about things *beyond language.* The word "love" does not (generally) jam actual love into us. It is said to communicate a particular feeling from one to another.

But if that feeling has never been felt by the other, the word spoken by the first person will be misunderstood. And so our individuality in a sense hurts our communication, because my "love" may be vastly different from your "love."

And of course we can open up a whole new can of worms when we speak of God's love, because it is beyond us still. (Thankfully he knows this, and also thankfully he can communicate beyond mere language. But that may be another thread... )

Returning to the point at hand, when we receive a question we take this whole and complete "thing" someone else has and we modify it. We must, because that is how individuality works. But what that means is the whole of what the other person has audibly sent over is now changed.

And then, if we are providing an answer (which I hope we are, because questions are built to be paired with answers), we send back yet an even more "broken" thing, because our ideas are translated back through the other person's personal filters.

And in a very real sense you have the children's game "telephone" except, most of the time, *we don't even know it.* We think we are being crystal clear. Because to US it is crystal clear. Just as to THEM their original question was crystal clear.

Anyway, all this is to say to be conscious of language and its limitations. When someone asks a question and you think you understand the point, clarify, if the topic is important. (I speak to myself here, btw. "You" is directed at me. But perhaps it speaks to you as well.)

Side note: This is particularly true of myself and the word Pride, which means more to me than it likely means to most because when I say "Pride" it oozes from my mouth like a poison. I wish to spit it off my tongue so I might no longer be blighted. To others "Pride" is sweet.

Second side note, which is more a follow up to the original: This illustrates one more reason text (social media, email, literal texting) can be a rather large step backwards in communicating. ALL it deals with are mere words. Tone, body language, and inflection are all lost.

More and more people are discovering social media is leaving them socially empty. One reason for this is that we have cut out a human element from our social interaction with this method. And our bodies (our souls) long for the things left behind. For connection beyond words.

Side again: This may be a key difference in reading the Bible vs. being a Christian. Simply reading the Bible as words, you miss the love. "God loves you" on a page means little unless you seek *with your heart* and *feel* the love he has.

J.K. Riki wrote: Fri Mar 01, 2019 2:24 pmSide again: This may be a key difference in reading the Bible vs. being a Christian. Simply reading the Bible as words, you miss the love. "God loves you" on a page means little unless you seek *with your heart* and *feel* the love he has.

This is very true, and I think it applies to a very wide range of concepts in addition to love. There are so many facts, doctrines, thoughts, ideas and feelings expressed in Scripture that it amazes me that we can have any coherence at all between us when we talk about these concepts. That's what makes it critical to let the Spirit guide you as you study the text.

Great dialogue! Superb content mainly because of the way you all brought up questionable points together!
Consider:

• Someone's got to be focused on the topic
  Someone's got to be interested in the topic
  Someone's got to have some basic knowledge of the topic
  Someone's got to know how the topic applies

There are maybe others, but these are the main one's I've observed while watching people in public or just happen to be around me...

BlockHeadLewie wrote: Wed Mar 13, 2019 5:23 pm Great dialogue! Superb content mainly because of the way you all brought up questionable points together!
Consider:

• Someone's got to be focused on the topic
  Someone's got to be interested in the topic
  Someone's got to have some basic knowledge of the topic
  Someone's got to know how the topic applies

There are maybe others, but these are the main one's I've observed while watching people in public or just happen to be around me...

That's a good list. I'd add to it that a critical component is that both parties have to have the same understanding of the terms and perspectives. For example, suppose we were sitting around chatting about Christianity and someone says:

"My brother just became a priest!"

A Catholic in the group would regard that as a pretty big deal and a very special occasion. Someone who joins the Catholic priesthood takes on a calling, a career and a whole different lifestyle.

A Protestant in the group would probably also presume that means 'Catholic priest' and would understand that it's a big event, but not necessarily feel personally invested either way.

A Latter-Day Saint in the group would be congratulatory, but not especially moved since all adult men in our Church are ordained to the Priesthood. (Although we'd probably react in the same way as the Protestant, since there's a lot more Catholics out there than Mormons, so the probability goes that way.)

So that sentence is based ENTIRELY on the context of who the brother is and where he goes to church. Absent that context, we would all make our own assumptions on what is meant and we wouldn't necessarily come to the same conclusion.