Could I Be Deluding Myself?

[pljames]

Do I write to tell other I exist? How can I learn from others if I do not question my beliefs to there's? I am a product of society. I was educated and brought up with their thoughts and experiences and not mine. Then I started to question there reasons and beliefs to get an idea on how I fit into society, using their ideas. I created my ideas using their experiences and created me. Have I deluded myself into believing I can become as smart as they are? I have a reading and writing comprehension problem, and I am to old to start over learning how to understand reading and writing. I only have my experiences and nothing else.

 

It would seem I have to come to grips with my problem and do the best I can with it. Thoughts please? Paul

[Eclogite]

Primary thought: you are making many posts that say essentially the same thing. Is this a cry for help? If so, this is the wrong place to look for such help. Even if any members here are qualified counsellors I suspect they would be reluctant to attempt counselling via an internet forum.

[pljames]

Eclogite,

Even thou I have a reading and writing disibility and you see and understand it, would you help me understand it? With that being said, then I would know in what direction to go. I have tried English.com and other forums as well, and they cannot help me. It would seem from my perspective, the majority of writers write with a method like order. There are people with physical disabilities that overcome their disabilities, cannot I do the same? I love words and using them in a sentence allows me to express myself to other writers even thou I have this disibility. It would seem to me when I write, I try to use words as individual words but with a universal meaning per word. I think that is called ambiguous words or words with more than one meaning.

 

If that is the case should I make the individual word a subject and add a explanation for it? As in scientific writing? The subject of the piece is for the total piece from beginning to end! I am an infant who wants to communicate, but for now it has to be (my way) until I learn the correct way to write. Editing and interpreting seem to be different was to communicating an I want to learn the difference. Is it possible to create another way of writing as to give the reader another way of thinking about how to understand my writing like Aristotle, (pride calls me here)? You have been overly patient with me, thanks. Thoughts please. Paul

[pljames]

A thought just crossed my mind. When a student did not understand a lesson Aristotle would rephrase the question in a way for the student to think about the lesson another way. The word rhetoric comes to mind. A man called Jesus did the same thing. Neither person never wrote anything. It was all from the mind and heart. It would seem I to am trying to copy these teachers by writing a lesson instead of teaching the lesson from the mind. My third hero is Einstein. Thoughts please. Paul

Edited March 1, 2013 by pljames

[pljames]

Eclogite,

A thought. My last post to you put a thought in my head. Is it possible to write like Aristotle, Jesus and Einstein who didn't write, but projected their thoughts to their students by using questions and rhetoric? I am leaning towards using the scientific method of writing. The word science means knowledge and using these teachers way of teaching scientifically. Could that be (my way) of writing to inform and be informed. As far as I am concerned you have been a great help in making me find (my way) of writing. Thoughts please? Paul

 

 

 

 

 

 

Primary thought: you are making many posts that say essentially the same thing. Is this a cry for help? If so, this is the wrong place to look for such help. Even if any members here are qualified counsellors I suspect they would be reluctant to attempt counselling via an internet forum.

[pljames]

Eclogite,

I am beginning to feel/sense I might have been seeing/understanding my way as wrong. Questions, what is the writer looking to do in the first place? two, what is the reader looking for when reading the writers letter? Are they both looking for truth understanding or compromise? Why would a person write except to inform or question or learn something? Thoughts please. Paul

[blamski]

if it makes you feel any better, this whole misunderstanding or misinterpretation thing is common to all of us. i speak english and spanish, and the richness and beauty of both these languages also result in a lack of specificity from time to time. i'm sure this is common to pretty much all other languages as well.

 

there is a certain kind of academic and/or scientific writing that strives to remove ambiguities and effect precision - but for those of us who aren't career scientists or academics its not the easiest thing to learn.

 

my suggestion to you would be to stop obsessing so much about the question of understanding and the precise meanings of words and start enjoying the discourse itself. intelligent people will always find a way to share ideas in meaningful ways.

[pljames]

blamski,

You said, "

there is a certain kind of academic and/or scientific writing that strives to remove ambiguities and effect precision - but for those of us who aren't career scientists or academics its not the easiest thing to learn.

 

my suggestion to you would be to stop obsessing so much about the question of understanding and the precise meanings of words and start enjoying the discourse itself. intelligent people will always find a way to share ideas in meaningful ways."

 

Excellent answer but since words have synonyms why does the reader pick out others words,other than what the writer chose? to quote a spoken phrase, is it Houseton or Houston? If you (a and I see B) how do we both get to © if the reader interprets what they thought the writer meant? I've seen letters written by genusis's professors presidents famous men of old and in trying to communicate as they did, and I failed to get my thoughts across.

 

I agree with your word obsession about the way I write and want to be understood. But if people read between the lines and not what the writer wrote are meant, then why write? Thanks for you advice and mostly your patiences. Paul

 

 

 

 

if it makes you feel any better, this whole misunderstanding or misinterpretation thing is common to all of us. i speak english and spanish, and the richness and beauty of both these languages also result in a lack of specificity from time to time. i'm sure this is common to pretty much all other languages as well.

 

there is a certain kind of academic and/or scientific writing that strives to remove ambiguities and effect precision - but for those of us who aren't career scientists or academics its not the easiest thing to learn.

 

my suggestion to you would be to stop obsessing so much about the question of understanding and the precise meanings of words and start enjoying the discourse itself. intelligent people will always find a way to share ideas in meaningful ways.

[Eclogite]

You wish language to be literal. It rarely is.

 

One of the great strengths of language is that it is often metaphorical and therefore evocative and powerful and beautiful. Rather than reduce the clarity of communication this often improves it.

 

I think of the richness of metaphor in Darwin's writing: the tangled bank creates a picture far more potent than a simple listing of the species present on the banks of a stream could ever do, even were that list accompanied with a diagrammatic representation of their interrelationships. Science requires the latter; I would argue that true understanding requires the former.

 

On reflection you seem to be condemning language for what is, perhaps, its greatest asset. (And there was a sentence with at least three significant rhetorical and metaphorical devices. Did they make it more difficult to understand?)

[ErlyRisa]

I, had pondered the same thing(concept)

 

...to me, its about getting a job...

 

I think, a cleaner, has the happiest life of all - in humbility.

 

MARY POPPINS comes to mind.

 

both are "lowely" workers - one "dirty" the other "a silent magician amongst aristocracy"

 

 

To clean a chimney, and be paid for it.

Not easy...

 

especially if your thinking as an engineer, where:

You need that which believes they would die of soot poisoning if they even went near the fireplace.

 

ie. Sometimes fear (Carbon Trading) = economy.

 

it's choosing to live amongst your timline.

 

ME, for example, wishes to have lived before the modern era, in a time where I could hunt, and leave my society behind,

although this is still technically feasible today...it is frowned upon:

 

ie. Don't kill animals, don't eat meat, do the typical societal thing (buy car house spam and eggs, etc)

 

...its all to keep the peace - imagine we all went "Tribal" tomorrow - what chaos there would be!

[RainMan]

Eclogite,

I am beginning to feel/sense I might have been seeing/understanding my way as wrong. Questions, what is the writer looking to do in the first place? two, what is the reader looking for when reading the writers letter? Are they both looking for truth understanding or compromise? Why would a person write except to inform or question or learn something? Thoughts please. Paul

I'm not Paul, but I'll have a go at that.

 

I started writing when I was 14. I was questioning things constantly, like you, and I simply wanted a venue for all of my thoughts. I wasn't thinking at that time "Will people understand and relate to this?" I was simply getting things off my chest in a way I could understand and relate to. It was very selfish endeavor you could say. In time, I became a writer who wanted others to feel the way I did. To see things the way I did. Writing was my way of trying to connect with other people.

 

This was my experience. Not all writers are the same. You are asking one question that, if read by 1,000 writers, is likely to give you 1,000 different answers. 

[arissa]

Do I write to tell other I exist? How can I learn from others if I do not question my beliefs to there's? I am a product of society. I was educated and brought up with their thoughts and experiences and not mine. Then I started to question there reasons and beliefs to get an idea on how I fit into society, using their ideas. I created my ideas using their experiences and created me. Have I deluded myself into believing I can become as smart as they are? I have a reading and writing comprehension problem, and I am to old to start over learning how to understand reading and writing. I only have my experiences and nothing else.

 

It would seem I have to come to grips with my problem and do the best I can with it. Thoughts please? Paul

 

Everyone is in the same boat. Some of us jump and swim off to another area to avoid the things we do not like (learning another path). You are never too old to learn something new either, just because we age does not mean we stop learning. Each day is a new day to learn, we choose if we want to be stuck in the same boat and continue on the single path, or we overreach and find a new way to keep exploring.