Happy Wednesday Digital Neighbors! Good Morning friends! More on communication from Ageless Wisdom: A Treasury of Quotes to Motivate & Inspire.

There is always time to add a word, never to withdraw one. - Baltasar Gracian The Art of Worldly Wisdom

When dealing with people, let us remember we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion. - Dale Carnegie How to Win Friends and Influence People

Teach thy tongue to say "I do not know". - The Talmud

On a trip to Israel in 1999 I read The Art of World Wisdom. It was an interesting book of advice and practical information no unlike The Prince by Machiavelli. Some simple advice from Baltasar (I can't help thinking of Battle Star Galactica - both the Starsky & Hutch 1980s version as well as the gritty one made in the early 2000s) on minding one's words. It is one of the hardest things to do, walk back a ill spoken word in a careless moment or during a time of rage. I imagine a fair number of us have that relative or co-worker that has nothing but negative thoughts and feelings associated with their person. "Aunt Gertrude said I was never going to amount to anything." While Aunt Gertrude may have said many other things, perhaps even good and useful things, that phrase is what first comes to mind for many of us. Sometimes even a random nobody, trolls, can say thinks that strike a nerve. It shouldn't have taken the internet to identify that behavior, trolls have existed for a long time. They go by many names. Some people relish being trolls, and can even handle verbal pushback and jousting, but a fair number are paper tigers and can dish the crap, but not handle it. There is always time to add words, rarely withdraw one easily. I wouldn't say never like Baltasar does, but he has a book and I don't.

Humans are rational creatures, from time to time. We live in the the age of emotional excesses and exaggerations. While facts don't care about your feelings, feeling mobs don't care about your facts. In the decay of culture & discourse that started last century, emotions can become the refuge of those incapable of sustained or critical thought. For those unable to admit their ignorance or even fault, their fortress of feelings becomes their safe-space. I feel _________. While you can't disagree with that statement, so what? Not reality, only a reaction to it. Don't ignore feelings, but don't make them gospel. One of my frequent comments in sermons and spiritual direction, feelings are great for fuel but terrible for a directional system.

If fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, acknowledging I don't know is perhaps the beginning of learning. Admission of ignorance opens the door to knowledge, or at least it should. Unassailable ignorance, it can affect any of us, but hopefully it is not a permanent state. If you find yourself in a permanent state of ignorance, you are probably qualified for political office, perhaps even the highest office in the land. Happy Wednesday Friends!

Old barn, near Subiaco, Arkansas