What Are Your Love Languages?

Meeting:  Nov. 5:   At the Oct. 22 meeting this topic was suggested for our next meeting.  I pointed out that this was not a Socratic sort of question, but after so many years of doing Meaning of Life discussions, I'm ready for a change now and then.  The discussion will be lead not by me, but by the person suggesting it, so I offer a brief summary of the topic as I understand it, and provide links to additional websites that might help to shed light on it.

If you Google tonight's topic you will find offers for books of essentially that title, free and paid websites that promote and explore it, and much, much more.  Spreadsheets that show you how to communicate, what actions to take, and what to avoid when pursuing the 5 languages.  You can take a quiz that will show you what your personal love language is.  And much, much more.  (It was suggested that we all take the quiz before the meeting, to get some personal baseline information about ourselves.)

The 5 languages are (by most accounts): 1. Words of Affirmation, 2. Quality Time, 3. Physical Touch, 4. Acts of Service, and 5. Receiving Gifts.  These short, categorical statements hint at far larger topics that will be explored during our discussion time, revealing the inner workings of your personality in this very important field of your life. You may end up adding the vocabulary and perspectives to develop and improve any areas where you may feel deficient.

Or maybe not.  What do I know?  

Note the date:  November 5.

Calendar Changes

 As we move into the 2021 holiday season and we were all checking our calendars, it was clear that a 2nd and 4th Friday schedule for Big Questions was not going to work.  Therefore, we are switching to a 1st and 3rd Friday schedule for November and December this year.  So far I only have 1 topic identified, and this posting will follow shortly, but please note the change in the dates.

Getting to know you...

I pulled out my copy of "Socrates Café" by Christopher Phillips for inspiration for tonight's discussion topic.  If you have not added this book to your library, you should.  It is a well written book on many philosophical topics, and it presents the information in a very accessible way.  

Socrates famously said, "Know thyself", which has been expanded into, "An unexamined life is not worth living."  Phillips has a short section titled, "Know thyself at thine own risk", in which he recounts an evening's discussion with Café attendees on this very topic.  One attendee contends that a person can really only come to know who they genuinely are while in some kind of crisis.   Everyday living, he says, does not give us the insight we needed to know who we fundamentally are.   Phillips counters that it would be necessary for the group to agree on a workable definition of crisis, if this were true, and perhaps everyday life provides many sorts of crises that could provide the insight needed.  

In the back of my mind I'm thinking that there are certainly life-changing crises we face not on a daily basis, but perhaps only several times in our lives, that put who were are to the test, in some way.  In other words, I like the basic idea of a "crucible of fire" sort of crisis revelation of who we fundamentally are, but is that the only way it might happen?  Don't we learn about ourselves without crisis?  Or are we simply  not paying attention?

Do you know who you are?   Are you living your life in harmony with your inner self?  This line of thinking evokes the Becoming and Being discussions we have had in the past.  Become who you are.  Life is a process of Becoming, with the goal of eventually Being, or living in harmony with your genuine self.  

How do you get to the point where you know who you are?  Philosophy, of course. 

Alternate Endings to SWSOSWG

 As we discussed last week, Kay and Cyril's plans might have gone off as they envisioned, but maybe things didn't work out perfectly.  The several possible futures presented in the story offer utopia and dystopia alternatives, but certainly not a full range of possibilities.

I would like to suggest that we all come with a short story or 2 that extends the range of possible unanticipated futures that Kay and Cyril might have found at the age of 80, or sooner, that could have affected their decision to carry through with their Suicide Pact.  How else might things have happened on Kay's 80th?  What if Kay did not notify her daughter of their plans?  What if they both stage a fake suicide, but in fact they survive and run off with new identities.  What if Cyril gets cancer earlier than they planned, and suffers terribly for it?  Or any other possible scenario you might think of.  

Once we have something to share, drop a copy into the comments for everyone to see, or send it to me (if you have written something) and I can share it with the Usual Participants ahead of the meeting date.

Thanks for your thoughtful participation.

Here is a story ending submitted by Judy.  Another called Harmony, also by Judy.

Here is an overview, and an alternate ending by Des.

And a new ending by Vickie.

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