Vow to Embrace the Particular and the Specific...

Yes. A little explosion of insight flashed in my head yesterday (see previous post). It may be an overstatement,  I am prone to overstatements, but I began to think that all of my difficulties in communicating with other folks, all of the arguments, the grand, and petty, disagreements I have found myself engaged in over the years, have been related to the specific vs. general thing. As they say, "The Devil is in the Details," but it is in the details where the truth will be revealed. And the details usually deepen & complicate the story. If we stick to specifics and avoid generalities it seems clear that the complexity and richness of life will descend upon us. The Universe is more interesting, baffling, and wondrous than we can imagine. Human Beings are too. We are a complicated, tricky, confounding, sometimes impressive, and sometimes disappointing Species. Speak in generalities and you are most likely betraying your prejudices, your stereotypes, your fears; you are imposing your limited knowledge upon a greater, richer understanding. I think, I too have gotten most in trouble when I have argued some wide-ranging generality in the face of a more complicated, very detailed and specific reality. Going forward, I vow to stick to the particular, to reach out for vivid detail, to search out the contradictions, the complexities, the stubborn facts that don't necessarily conform to my hazy-lazy conceptions of the world. Maybe it's a way to open the door to the wonder, the mystery, the complicated nature of Life? Be super-specific in all things.