Of Opinions and Arguments…

Before I begin, allow me to define a few terms here:

Knowledge: information, understanding, or skill that you get from experience or education ; awareness of something : the state of being aware of something.

Fact: something that truly exists or happens; something that has actual existence; a true piece of information.

I recently had the amazing pleasure of engaging a random stranger in a bus in a conversation. Well, you say, That’s normal. And I agree, but you haven’t met me. I have one of those resting faces that makes random conversation on buses rare. Rarer than a blue moon on a moonless planet. And intelligent conversation at that? I had to say I was amazed.

You see, I don’t go around fishing for conversation, I am very happy keeping the contents of my very well compartmentalized head locked up. My opinions are but prisoners in my mental cage. “Why?” you ask, “Why not let them roam free, bear fruit and populate the world?”. Well my dear friend, because they tend to run amok and break everything around them. Because they like to stand at a street corner and hurl obscenities until they’re listened to. Because they like to brood in the dark night of ignorance waiting for the perfect moment to strike, to shine the light in the face of absurdity. Because they are on a mission to civilize and won’t let anything stand in their way.

I am on a mission to civilize. (Newsroom, Anyone?)

I must clarify, These are my opinions, not me. I like to think of myself as open minded but not so open minded as to be vacant. My opinions are above everything else dynamic, with a proclivity for change. They evolve, mutate and seek new land with the ease of a butterfly landing on a flower. They exist for new evidence, seeking to never fall into the trap of stoicism, into the abyss of dogma.

They do not stay the same forever. No, they subject to the clime and weather of the presented facts, constantly changing and absorbing the bulwark of the presented argument, seeking to find the truth behind the fiction, the curtain-drawer behind the curtains.

And I like to feed them on everything. On every scrap of knowledge I can lay my hands on, on every fact, every idea, every piece I can find and they voraciously dine on these. To some its fodder, building them a framework for growth, strengthening them, establishing themselves. To others its poison and they lay there and die, fading away in the silence of new conviction. Never to be thought of, never to be held as opinion, never to be used again.

But I digress from this tale of random encounters, This brave young lady, upon reading some intelligent piece of writing (based on the conversation, I can only assume this was the case), decided to inform me of her stance on the entire Creationism vs Evolution debate. This is one of the arguments I love. Why? You ask… It allows me to see the true depth of one’s arguing capability. There is nothing sweeter than challenging one’s fundamental belief system and seeing how they take it. You must think me malicious, but I have my reasons…

The reactions are precious as they give you a glimpse into the mind of the person. You see, most people don’t know how to argue, they know how to quarrel… Where’s my dictionary?

Argue: give reasons or cite evidence in support of an idea, action, or theory, typically with the aim of persuading others to share one’s view.

Quarrel: have an angry argument or disagreement.

To me, An argument is a logical exchange of ideas and opinions… on anything. Back to my first definitions. When you get to argue with someone, you get a piece of their knowledge. They speak to you from a place of experience or of learning. This is their knowledge you are viewing. They may have reasons for presenting it to you in a certain way, reasons that may tint said knowledge with an angry red or the cool blue hue of utter indignation. But at the end of the day, it is not fact. When you sift past the anger, rage, joy, happiness, tears, disgust, disdain, shock and the endless list of emotions expressed, you are left with fact. It is that needle in the haystack. That undeniable truth that lurks behind every opinion, every thought, every voiced word. The fact that you hold dear.

In my case, the fact was that the brave young lady was very open-minded. Was her view tinted by her past experience? Of course, so was mine. Was her point of view a polar opposite of mine? On some issues , yes.But what made it memorable, what made it worthwhile?

The strength of her argument.

The fact that she listened and questioned my thoughts and my opinions, presenting evidence for her thoughts, turning knowledge into fact. She didn’t dodge the questions or retreat behind the walls of clichéd dogma. The fact that she didn’t fall into the trap of fallacy and that she held her own in the exchange. Her delivery was artistic. If anything, This was a verbal dance and who was I not to have some fun?

It was then, in the heat of all that that i was struck by a passing thought. Arguments are meant to shape us not define us. They are meant to provide a platform for self-explanation and not self-exultation.

Arguments do not exist for us to prove why we’re right, they exist to enable us to accept that we could be wrong.They give us a chance to change others and more importantly, to change ourselves. They give us glimpses into who we are and into who others are at the same time. They let us see the failures in our opinions and at better times strengthen the foundations of some of our strongly held beliefs. They are the mirrors into ourselves for how can we look at ourselves without others.

And how do you do that? How do you open yourself to possible criticism, to vulnerability, to being wrong? Its simple… Be brave, be open minded and above all else, listen.

Listen.

And perhaps one day when a brave person, takes that leap and engages you in conversation, you might learn a lot more than you thought you could. You might even spark up an argument and have some fun.

Have an argumentative day, won’t you?

#Life #Opinions #Philosophy