Things said, things heard

I like to listen to people talk, and to hear the things they really say. Some things remain hidden from even the speaker. And yet, so much of ourselves gets said, if we can really listen with our hearts. I remember a radio interview with a researcher (if someone has the info on this, please share) who was studying short blocks of time with married couples. They would sit in an interview room and talk for 10 or 15 minutes. The conversation could be about any mundane thing, and the researchers would film and analyze it. They would then predict whether the couple would still be together in 10 years or so. The results were highly accurate, around 80%. And what's even more surprising, the results shot up to 95% when the conversation was lengthened to 30 minutes.

I don't mean to imply that the following is some deep revelation; it is a separate thought, an anecdote I wanted to share. (and on a side note, I think the above was an excellent use of the semicolon... a subtle and misunderstood piece of punctuation) Jake, Sandy and I were talking about the theory of 10,000 hours til mastery of a given task. Sandy is sure she has 10,000 of Tai Chi, and Jake is sure he must be a master of three things - carrying water, chopping wood, and shoveling manure. Furthermore, when Jake was visiting a shaman in South America, he asked what one is to do when they reach the state of ultimate one-ness or non-duality. The reply: chop wood and haul water.

_________________

since feeling is first

who pays any attention

to the syntax of things

will never wholly kiss you; 

 wholly to be a fool 

while Spring is in the world 

 my blood approves, 

and kisses are a far better fate 

than wisdom 

lady i swear by all flowers. Don't cry 

--the best gesture of my brain is less than 

your eyelids' flutter which says 

we are for each other: then 

laugh, leaning back in my arms 

for life's not a paragraph 

 And death i think is no parenthesis

 
(ee cummings)