Turned Off by Tone

Originally Posted by lemex

Very powerful idea and statement and what I was trying to say. Hope I haven't taken it out of context.

Sorry about over-sharing......

Awww, stop. :) You didn't overshare. You expressed yourself in your own words. I don't always read all of the posts people put so if that's what you said then I agree!

[Orbie]

Whether its reading a message on a forum or meeting someone in real life, we aint gonna love everyone.

The written word can be misconstrued too which is a shame and of course there is the "vibe" we pick up too from posts.

Then there is the personality of the poster and recipient of the message to take into consideration.

Wasnt it Silver Birch who said something along the lines of discarding things which dont sit well with us?

I don't have any problems with how things are presented. It is not the presentation that matters to me, it is the information that is there. When I remain objective, i find myself more open.

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

What I am objecting to is unsolicited "wisdom".

Lora

Could you be more specific IsleWalker.
I understand what you're getting at, that if a person seeks advice, others share their "wisdom".

The there's the other element of discussion, a topic is begun and people just equally share their "wisdom" towards no one in particular.
And who knows where the discussion will go.

The bit i don't understand is how do you define unsolicited sharing of "wisdom".

[Swami Chihuahuananda]

Originally Posted by Alternate Carpark

Could you be more specific IsleWalker.
I understand what you're getting at, that if a person seeks advice, others share their "wisdom".

The there's the other element of discussion, a topic is begun and people just equally share their "wisdom" towards no one in particular.
And who knows where the discussion will go.

The bit i don't understand is how do you define unsolicited sharing of "wisdom".

Also there's the dynamic of what we see , how we percieve ,and how we apply emotional content or intentions to words we see , some amount of that is a reflection of ourselves and us projecting our own emotions and intent onto words that may not have been written exactly with that subjective (and obviously, not percieved on screen) content.

It's not just that we can't properly recieve the way the words are intended, but we also add some of our own content to them. Especially in a forum like this, with such intense , deep insight and experience, and so many pictures of reality , it's easy to see why just agreeing what color the sky is might be problematic. People say deep, intense stuff here ; it comes with the territory ,so of course (i.m.o.) a lot of it may appear to be people puffing their chests and strutting around like poodles , proud of their own awesome nature and happy to detail their awesomeness, but I don't see it that way , necessarily, and with 'real' spirituality I assume that this sort of ego/power trip is no longer an important motivation from someone .

I see some people get nitpicky sometimes , dissecting details of what others say , pointing out inconsictencies, , and sure, some of that seems
a little overboard, tedious , and ... nitpicky to me . But I have to look at the other side of it . I have to assume that some of what may annoy me is because I have some of that quality myself, and it's being reflected back.
I also have to assume that someone so meticulous might just be smarter than I am and more detail oriented , or that someone so certain might also be as grounded intheir own reality as I am in mine and that what they are saying is as real to them as my reality is to me . I definitely assume that , more often than not, someone is talking about something that is real or works for them and they feel like it may be of use to someone else , so they say it.
That's what I do . At worst, it's someone doing vision takeover , and since I don't live in anyone else's reality, or think that they should live in mine, vision takeover doesn't get very far with me, or go very far coming from me.

Question : what's the difference between reading some grand proclamation in a 'holy scripture' and some bozo like me on the internet ?. Answer : technology , plain and simple . We're all bozos on this bus , and so were the people who wrote those books . People is people wherever you go ; Jesus put his robes on one ... robe at a time , and each of us is a child of god . Might as well get used to it; we're all ordinary idiots; angels in disguise.

I wouldn't assume that interacting one on one is better , either . There's the social aspect of any forum , of course, but the extra-special thing about a SF is that there's more going on than that. This is Big Stuff ! and we're all
working together on something bigger than ourselves , whatever it might look like, looking at it the old fashioned way . From a different perspective it doesn't matter what we actually say, the heavy lifting is done on a different level (don't ask me to explain that , either ) .

Dang.... there went a half hour
DS

Originally Posted by Prinie

I empathize HeyMA, as I know that I've been in both positions (turned off by the unsolicited wisdom and a follower of the poster of such...) They don't help me much but I keep in mind that they might be helping someone, even if it means becoming turned off by the new preacher. Kind of like an AA meeting? I'm not an alcoholic so the meetings don't really benefit me but they might be benefitting someone who is an alcoholic. *shrugs*

The flip of that is that I get the feeling that in these posts, these people are trying to explore themselves (which has its pros and cons...) and so in that sense I just leave them to explore and share ever so often.

I like your widsom of sharing how you feel..its an insightful way to view this...giving of oneself no matter how it is shared may not be always noticeable to others but simply to the one sharing..and at other times the sharing may have one tiny ripple affect for someone in need. In the connection of all of us, I trust in all that others share regardless of how it comes across to me...

[Mr Interesting]

Yup, that kinda stuff gets me too and I've had a few attempts at doing the comic version, as have one or two others.

What I get caught by is when the thread starter is a question, which I'll find interesting, but then the bulk of the message is that person's answer to the question, which can sometimes be in the form of a question in the sense that their answer has holes in it they'd like filled...

But when the answer is filled with profundities out on the extremes that are playing with concepts of absolute Truth then I'm just completely put off and wonder why these people even post if they're already Gods... and God's seemingly uninterested in having feet that walk the earth as we know it.

What I understand to be the essential difference between Spirituality and most other things we might want to learn is that spirituality is basically about self discovery. The arts come close, in some respects, as at the fine arts end they seem to be about self discovery siphoned through societal commentary so there are similarities. But what is common to the arts is a teaching practice that stresses discovery of personal difference after the rudiments are digested... which is how my version of spiritual teaching might actually work.

But the arts have been with us, as an arm of popular culture, longer than the new age so it stands to reason that it's going to take time before the old ways of teaching by rote from experts in the field are going to cede into something less about the glorification of the self described saints.

So, in the past, I've come across people who've called me a teacher and and a guru but what surprised me at those times was that I wasn't trying to be either. All I was doing was trying to describe was what I thought might work or taking apart something of my own, ideas wise, and trying to put it back together a different way... while people were listening... realising as well, that engagement between myself and others was about everybody feeling they had a place within the engagement and a sense of being able to offer something.

Okay... I'll stop now.

Originally Posted by Gracey

I don't have any problems with how things are presented. It is not the presentation that matters to me, it is the information that is there. When I remain objective, i find myself more open.

yes being open to receive....however it may be received.....

Originally Posted by Mr Interesting

Yup, that kinda stuff gets me too and I've had a few attempts at doing the comic version, as have one or two others.

What I get caught by is when the thread starter is a question, which I'll find interesting, but then the bulk of the message is that person's answer to the question, which can sometimes be in the form of a question in the sense that their answer has holes in it they'd like filled...

But when the answer is filled with profundities out on the extremes that are playing with concepts of absolute Truth then I'm just completely put off and wonder why these people even post if they're already Gods... and God's seemingly uninterested in having feet that walk the earth as we know it.

What I understand to be the essential difference between Spirituality and most other things we might want to learn is that spirituality is basically about self discovery. The arts come close, in some respects, as at the fine arts end they seem to be about self discovery siphoned through societal commentary so there are similarities. But what is common to the arts is a teaching practice that stresses discovery of personal difference after the rudiments are digested... which is how my version of spiritual teaching might actually work.

But the arts have been with us, as an arm of popular culture, longer than the new age so it stands to reason that it's going to take time before the old ways of teaching by rote from experts in the field are going to cede into something less about the glorification of the self described saints.

So, in the past, I've come across people who've called me a teacher and and a guru but what surprised me at those times was that I wasn't trying to be either. All I was doing was trying to describe was what I thought might work or taking apart something of my own, ideas wise, and trying to put it back together a different way... while people were listening... realising as well, that engagement between myself and others was about everybody feeling they had a place within the engagement and a sense of being able to offer something.

Okay... I'll stop now.

What one person is put off by another may not be...but I hear your view...in light of how it is for you.

My feelings on this are that each one of us contribute as we do for many varied reasons and from many various places we each hold within on our own personal journey. Until we can value the "whole" we will always see something is amiss...in why and how others share.

[Squatchit]

Originally Posted by IsleWalker

This may be my issue but in my mind I am wondering why some people just assume a superiority, a preaching-down-to attitude. You can tell the posts because there is no implied question at all. It begins with "statements of fact" --about how things are, should be, etc.

I guess the best way to find out is directly ask those people that you are talking about.

It's probably a whole plethora of reasons. Maybe their primary archetype is the teacher. Maybe they are so solid and sure of their beliefs, they don't feel the need to ask any questions or discuss their beliefs. They simply want to let everyone else know what they do...perhaps because something has worked enormously well for them and they wish everyone to experience the same. Maybe they're here for a laugh to see how many members they can wind up by appearing superior and holier-than-thou. Maybe they're psychotic.

I know I'm stating the blinkin' obvious, but if you don't like the cut of some members' jibs, you don't have to read their posts. I read ages ago in a far-distant and long-forgotten thread, a certain member said they would be put off by humour in spiritual teachings. That surprised me, because I would warm to a humorous approach. Horses for courses and all that jazz.

Walls of text and bad spelling/grammar tend to put me off. And the authoritarian attitude. Makes me want to flick peas at them....

I'll stop now as it's bedtime and I sense I'm beginning to ramble....blah blah blah.