Of oracles and associations

You meet all sorts of people. All are interesting. Some are worth meeting again. Few are worth a third look. Maybe one in a few thousand has the potential to be pushed into fourth place: but to the pinnacle?
It has happened. Once. Or was it twice?

Am I being pretentious? Condescending? Cynical? Curmudgeonly? Maybe a little of the latter. Even cynicism creeps in after a while on this treadmill: after all, cynicism is the health food of objectivity. It is a shame that some use it as an excuse for misjudgment. They mistakenly think that cynicism is objectivity. It is no. It allows you to sit back and question, but in so doing, you must ask the questions and listen to the answers. Carefully.

This all sounds a little depressing. I suppose? I always do. The difficulty is in shutting up and listening. After a long life, I confess I still have to perfect that art. I see it in others who jump to conclusions, aspire to pretension, assume authority they have no right to assume or set themselves up as the owlish oracles of oriental omniscience.

Was I ever guilty of this? Yes. Am I still? Possibly. Do I want to be? No.

Does it help that I cut myself off from those who annoy me? The answer to that depends on what sort of help I need. It is obvious that everyone can learn. It is obvious that no one is the ultimate oracle. It is obvious that, to even have that as an aim is folly in the extreme.

But since when have we been perfect? Since when have we been so self contained and so self assured that we can exist in intellectual isolation from those who may differ?

The answer? Never. The shame? There are those who do.

What do we say to them? Bon voyage.