On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:30:42 -0600, Mark A. Foster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi, Gilberto, > At 12:35 PM 12/22/2004, you wrote: > >>No. You are right. It's not automatic. It can vary with context. But in > >>order to survive in the world, on a regular basis we have to able to > >>reliably perform this correspondence task over and over again. And we do > >>pretty okay most of the time.<< > Or we *assume* that we do okay.
[...] > Frequently, one may believe that the other person has understood one's > points, because she used familiar taxonomies, but her intentionalities, her > meanings, were actually thoroughly different from one's own. Gilberto: You just reminded me of a joke I heard once. I'll include it at the bottom. Gilberto: > >>Suppose I tell you "I don't eat pork" and then you actually see me catch a > >>pig, kill it, cut it up, roast it on a spit, slice off a piece, put it > >>between two pieces of bread with lettuce and tomato, and start to eat it. I > >>would be both surprised and moved by your faith in my integrity if you > >>thought to yourself "Maybe when he says 'pork' he doesn't mean what I mean > >>when I say 'pork'"<< Mark: > The more concrete one's references, the less likely confusion may result. Gilberto: > >>They can look up words in the dictionary just as easily as you can. And > >>fairly consistently they seem to be mischaracterizing their own religion > >>and casting aspersions on yours. At some point, trust gets more and more > >>stretched. And then broken. No?<< Mark: > I would ask for further clarifications. However, in some cases, it may be > valid for that trust to be broken. Peace Gilberto The Pope and Moishe About a century or two ago, the Pope decided that all the Jews had to leave the Vatican. Naturally there was a big uproar from the Jewish community. So the Pope made a deal. He would have a religious debate with a member of the Jewish community. If the Jew won, they could stay. If the Pope won, the Jews would leave. The Jews realized that they had no choice. So they picked a middle aged man named Moishe to represent them. Moishe asked for one addition to the debate. To make it more interesting, neither side would be allowed to talk. The pope agreed. The day of the great debate came. Moishe and the Pope sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Moishe looked back at him and raised one finger. The Pope waved his fingers in a circle around his head. Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope pulled out a wafer and a glass of wine. Moishe pulled out an apple. The Pope stood up and said, "I give up. This man is too good. The Jews can stay." An hour later, the cardinals were all around the Pope asking him what happened. The Pope said, "First I held up three fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded by holding up one finger to remind me that there was still one God common to both our religions. Then I waved my finger around me to show him that God was all around us. He responded by pointing to the ground and showing that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and the wafer to show that God absolves us from our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had an answer for everything. What could I do?" Meanwhile, the Jewish community had crowded around Moishe. "What happened?" they asked. "Well," said Moishe, "First he said to me that the Jews had three days to get out of here. I told him that not one of us was leaving. Then he told me that this whole city would be cleared of Jews. I let him know that we were staying right here." "And then?" asked a woman. "I don't know," said Moishe. "He took out his lunch and I took out mine." "My people are hydroponic" __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
