Seeing Through The Shadows
It goes by many names...
Reading between the lines...seeing more than just what's on the surface...
An aside: I now Google my way into WA. It's something that evolved during my time in the Wastelands, when things changed involuntarily...
I type in a few letters, Wealthy Affiliate pops up, I hit it once, twice, and I'm in. Not very efficient, but it works.
This morning I typed in four letters and jumped the gun on hitting return, and in return, I learned a new word: "weal," which means a red, swollen place on the skin, which is usually accompanied by itching. A bit like "welt," I suppose.
This is neither here nor there, and is merely a sidebar to my discussion, which is Seeing through the Shadows, akin to the little Bush Deer in the tale of "Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock," retold by Eric A. Kimmel, a favorite story of many children who spend time reading to me, and, on what seem to be treasured occasions, being read to by me.
(non-affiliated...it's just a good story, based upon African folklore)
In the story, Anansi, a lazy spider, discovers a rock with magical properties, and uses it to trick many jungle animals out of their hard-earned food, including bananas, yams, watermelon, and pineapple. Little Bush Deer, watching the escapades from his safe vantage point behind a bush, decides to use the magic rock to teach Anansi a lesson, thereby facilitating the return of the food to the animals Anansi tricked.
Anansi, by the way, did not learn his lesson, and continues his trickery "to this very day." Sometimes we learn the hard way, it seems.
One can learn much by watching from the shadows and reading between the lines. There is often more to something than meets the eye, so to speak.
I use the word reckon sometimes. "I reckon" is kind of like saying, "I believe." It's not an exact science, but then, we don't always have to be exact, do we? It's pretty close to "The way I figure it," or "I suppose." (I surmised as much)
"I guess" or "I gather" seems a bit more inexact, perhaps not based upon all of the given facts, where "I have deduced," "arrived at the conclusion," or "I have figured out" definitely seem to carry more weight. (As I understand it)
Additionally, one who judges, is thought not only to be taking all of the available facts under consideration, but also to possess more than a passing familiarity with said facts. Such terms as reasoning, interpreting, and drawing inference also seem to be the qualities of a more thoughtful individual. (But, try not to read too much into that!)
All of these qualities may be discovered to be useful when we are attempting to analyze what some here have referred to as shiny objects...those offers that seem so tempting and maybe too good to be true.
When we truly glean the underlying essence of most of the "Business Bling"out there today, and see through the shadows, what's left, in many cases, is empty promises and unfulfilled dreams.
Sharpen your skills of reading between the lines and seeing through the shadows.
It will help you avoid many pitfalls.
Recent Comments
29
Great post Rick!
I share Carol's idea...assumption could lead you in to big misunderstanding and it could be costly at times.
Thanks again!
Sara
I like to watch from the shadows if I am unsure of something, Rick but I do not like it when people 'assume' something when they do not fully understand.
Reading between the lines here then Rick tells me that this is a good, worthwhile and interesting blog thank you. It is good to read between the lines but sometimes you have to just put yourself out there and see what happens. I do agree with Vera that the English language is the hardest to use if you are being rude lol.
There are so many words though that more or less have the same meaning to them. xxxx
There's a lot to the English language, Cheryl. Innumerable idioms that people struggle with when learning to speak it. :)
Definitely Rick, it can be difficult to learn for a lot of people and I can understand how people struggle with it. xxxx
Better to write and comment from the shadows Rick than put oneself out there like a fool. Reading between the lines shows more in between to rival the strongest keywords.
Sometimes we do put ourselves out like fools when we feel strongly about things or when we want to have fun, or just want to be open with the people who understand us , don't we, Mike?In this life it's not all about shadows. I appreciate openness too. It depends...:))
Thanks for an interesting research both into psychology and linguistics, Rick. I certainly can read between lines (in most cases) and like to communicate with people who can do that, too.
English is an interesting language, a language of subtlety and half tones. There are a lot of words you mention - "believe", "presume", "suppose". All these denote not a weak position of a speaker, but rather, respect for a listener, showing that what a person expresses is their opinion, not the final fact or judgement.
I believe (it's my opinion- I can compare with the three languages only) that it's more difficult to be rude in English than in other languages, but some people manage to be it...
Yes... It's definitely a good skill to read between the lines. It's almost an art form to be able to read others wants and needs.
I believe in order to understand others I need to understand myself.
Thank you for instigating an interesting conversation.
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Excellent post, Rick.
Thank you, Mike. :)