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Context: The source of misunderstanding


Words are illusive inherently. Hearing to words without context is such an ordinary act that it’s alarming.  Words are something that we humans have taken for granted from centuries. Words are nothing else but tools and just as one needs to learn how to use a tool similarly we all need to learn how to use words as well.

Words are tools to commune and it’s exactly what we miss every time we open our mouth and or read some text. We haven’t learned how to commune through words at all. It’s like we are still at a very nascent stage when it’s comes to communing through words. Something similar to when a five years kid say that “I am done learning alphabets so I am a doctor of literature now,” its plain stupid and its implication are way too dangerous, try to foresee it by helping your imagination. Here, let me help you out by two exercises given below. Please be honest while performing these or else you might miss their impact.

Exercise 1:
Pay attention next time when you are watching News or a television series or even a movie. Try to see the camera men’s behind the screen and what are they trying to do, see how are they moving around, try to see the makeup artists and what are they seeing, visualize the sound recorders and see the ways in which they are changing the background music every now and then, picture those animations guys and see how are they all trying to grab your attention (just like grabbing someone by neck!!) in shuttle-st way possible.  

Exercise 2:
Listen to your most favorite song. Try to imagine yourself been the writer of that song. Try to visualize how different the composition of those words can be from a writer’s perspective compared to the actual music director’s perspective. Try to imagine what the writer was thinking when writing those words. Now see it from a singer’s perspective, followed by the musicians, the sound recorders and lastly the choreographers. See how entirely different each of these entities reads the same sets of words.

Try to see how peoples are manipulating you, trying to convince you, how they are brainwashing you, see your own brain getting brainwashed attentively. It’s hard to do so, I understand but it’s equally shocking and eye opening when you truly see this reality as it actually is. Now you might think that by doing so you will start to enjoy things less but the truth is that you will enjoy it even more. Reality and truth are as sweet as nectar it’s just getting rid of the bees surrounding it initially, that is hard.

Almost all fights verbal or physical, fights within friends, families, communities, countries or governments are directly related to the lack of understanding of the context by the entities involved.

Let’s take an easy example to better understand the cruel importance of context.  “I would kill myself” this sentence is marvelous for proving just that.

Scenario 1: Imagine a guy let’s name him Adam, is madly in love with a girl and is confronting with his family saying “I would kill myself” if they don’t agree?

Scenario 2: Now imagine Adam is practicing for a stage show and is shouting in front of his colleagues “I would kill myself” as one of his given dialogue.

Scenario 3: Now imagine Adam is a five year kid, listening to some show on T.V. and repeating what he heard which in this case is obviously “I would kill myself”

Scenario 4: Now imagine Adam is a college kid cracking a joke as in “if professor Ram keeps on teaching mathematics anymore, I would kill myself”

Scenario 5: Now imagine Adam is a patient admitted in a mental asylum ruthlessly shaking his head and repeating 'I would kill myself’ followed by a burst of laughter when he out of breathe.

Scenario 6: Now imagine Adam is a die hard devotee and is telling his guru “before the cops arrest you, I would take all the blames on my name and then I would kill myself”

Now if I bring this up in a conversation like “have you heard what Adam said, he said he would kill himself” it means different things depending which context you relate it to, isn't?

So you see what I mean.  We should stop and think twice before interpreting some text and or hearing to some words or else the probability of misunderstanding is painstakingly high. Now the solution to such a wide spread shuttle ignorance within us human beings might seems hard but it’s actually not. And the solution is “to pay unbiased attention while listening”. Please note that listening is quite different then hearing. In fact hearing is just 40% of the whole listening process, the rest of 60% is paying attention to quite your mind and let those words sink in and then react impartially. 

So the most ideal way to commune is to take a 20 sec. pause every time a speaker finishes saying a sentence and then go on. To implement this is much harder initially as it’s like swimming against the stream but once you get the grip of it you will feel blissful and from my personal experience meditation might serve helpful in accomplishing just this, so give it a try per your convenience.

Definition of Commune: Share one's intimate thoughts or feelings with (someone or something)




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