I find that I delight in good conversation more than many other aspects of human interaction. Quiet time spent in proximity is wonderful. Games and activities are plenty of fun. But something about the art of exchanging deeply-held ideas blesses me in ways that work wonders on my soul.
In fact, I think that last sentence pinpoints the very reason for my impressions. In deep conversation, my intellect and my heart connect in a dizzying helix-like fashion, each informing and directing the other. While my feelings and beliefs are bursting from my core, my language and thought enhance these emotions by giving them form and a means of being understood. Once one idea is completed, another wants to be loosed into the world, and the pattern continues. When emotion is expressed with clarity, and the other members of the dialog respond, my soul leaps. I feel validated as a human being myself, and I have renewed connection to the person who has understood. That other participant oftentimes expresses a portion of his or her own soul in return, providing me with a greater knowledge and appreciation of who he or she is. When I see a person's heart more deeply, I value him or her more, despite differences between us which may put us at odds. And so forth and so on. Two or more parties engaging in this organic creation of dialog conduct a sort of mental commerce and exhibition of hearts, creating an intimacy that is ever-sought but sadly rare, even among those who have known one another for a great deal of time.
Perhaps it is due to my being a screenwriter by study and a novelist by accident; but the manner in which conversations of substance develop fascinates me. I find the nature of their formation odd but endearing, in that talking about a local park's recent renovation can turn toward reflections of childhood pleasures, which can then become a lament of lost innocence and transform into a discussion of adult anxieties. These journeys across the paths of time and perception, wherein honesty and compassion can trump ideological supremacy, seem to me one of the greatest gifts of human language.
Needless to say, I love conversation; and as I look toward to the coming week, with my schedule feeling more full with each glance at the calendar, I am filled with great anticipation--what will be said and by whom and where?
Thank you for reading. I pray that your coming days are filled with fruitful endeavors, that Christ is revealed to you with more beauty, that your life is joyous and your hours spent purposefully.
CJ
PS - On a very personal note, I also find these conversations to be some of the moments when I am filled with the most gratitude to God for both my existence and that of others. We have a blessed gift in relationship and compounded treasure in kindhearted speech. In light of this, heaven and eternity are more beautiful. What a joy it will be to sit amidst a New Earth, sipping drinks and talking for a thousand years, knowing that sin and death have passed and the stressors of the world and brokenness are gone. In that day, conversation will be even more honest in light of ultimate Truth, when that Truth will contextualize the self as one is, not merely as one perceives oneself to be. This is a blessed thought for those who will be there but a sober one for those who will be absent (a dichotomy that almost leads me to delete this last paragraph altogether). On that note, I need to spend time in prayer, both in praise and supplication.
In fact, I think that last sentence pinpoints the very reason for my impressions. In deep conversation, my intellect and my heart connect in a dizzying helix-like fashion, each informing and directing the other. While my feelings and beliefs are bursting from my core, my language and thought enhance these emotions by giving them form and a means of being understood. Once one idea is completed, another wants to be loosed into the world, and the pattern continues. When emotion is expressed with clarity, and the other members of the dialog respond, my soul leaps. I feel validated as a human being myself, and I have renewed connection to the person who has understood. That other participant oftentimes expresses a portion of his or her own soul in return, providing me with a greater knowledge and appreciation of who he or she is. When I see a person's heart more deeply, I value him or her more, despite differences between us which may put us at odds. And so forth and so on. Two or more parties engaging in this organic creation of dialog conduct a sort of mental commerce and exhibition of hearts, creating an intimacy that is ever-sought but sadly rare, even among those who have known one another for a great deal of time.
Perhaps it is due to my being a screenwriter by study and a novelist by accident; but the manner in which conversations of substance develop fascinates me. I find the nature of their formation odd but endearing, in that talking about a local park's recent renovation can turn toward reflections of childhood pleasures, which can then become a lament of lost innocence and transform into a discussion of adult anxieties. These journeys across the paths of time and perception, wherein honesty and compassion can trump ideological supremacy, seem to me one of the greatest gifts of human language.
Needless to say, I love conversation; and as I look toward to the coming week, with my schedule feeling more full with each glance at the calendar, I am filled with great anticipation--what will be said and by whom and where?
Thank you for reading. I pray that your coming days are filled with fruitful endeavors, that Christ is revealed to you with more beauty, that your life is joyous and your hours spent purposefully.
CJ
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