Wondering and Pondering

In case you’ve missed it, this blog is all about making sense of the world. One issue at a time. One day at a time as well. Sometimes an accumulation of topics pressure one another and make for other thoughts and wonderings.

I like to wonder about things. Ponder, too. Weighing bits and pieces of things helps me make sense of them. Glaring detachments appear and fuel more feverish ponders!

Slowly the meaning comes. Most often in the silence of night, say about 2 am. Only the hum of the fan or the click of the refrigerator changing operating modes. Small noises that do not interrupt, but accompany thinking.

Like Agatha Christie’s master sleuth Hercule Poirot who sees dimly an answer to the puzzle he is attempting to solve, ideas form briefly in the twilight of our mind and flit away as fast as they arrived. Maddeningly, we try to recapture them. But it is not to be.

Later the mind returns to its haunting reminder and the solution appears more solid this time.

Catch phrases parallel the logic. Words alone and sometimes paired. Icons of meaning. If we are lucky, we write them down before forgetting them. A while later those jottings recall the thinking and eventually the full solution is grasped.

The emergence of meaning is often this way. We don’t know things instantly most of the time. It comes in dribs and drabs, encroaching on our lives as we do routine tasks. But then, later, we focus on these meanderings and - pow! - we are in full control of the ponder.

Even then the ponder is of fleeting value unless it repeats many times.

When we discuss a topic with others and their attitudes and preconceptions are clear, their discourse is more a debate than conversation. They are telling, not listening. Listening is open, to ideas and diverse thoughts. Listening is not acceptance but willingness to consider. We make up our own minds later, when we have time.

If discussions are debates, little is learned but feeling and determination of the participants. The pondering and wondering is absent. Perhaps later we rethink what we heard, what we encountered. Then we are free to ponder and wonder. Mostly, though, we think on the emotion of the person telling us his woes. That is the larger impression; not the subject matter. No. no.

Maybe that is why I like pondering and wondering. I am free with myself to consider and weigh alternative conclusions. I make up my own mind. I recall what others have shared with me; and yes, these are considered in my pondering. I have heard and retained their tellings. I just don’t accept them as fact other than they are upset.

Making sense of the world requires this process. It is often slow. The tempo frustrates many but the process is more certain to arrive at conclusions more usable. Perhaps that’s why news people pick at the bits and pieces of the news so much? It seems endless, but maybe it isn’t. Maybe this is their way to ponder on air. If so, that’s a good thing. Minds have not been made up yet. Yes, that’s a good thing. Transparent news forming before our eyes.

I’ll go back to my corner of the world, now. And wonder about what I’ve experienced this day. And ponder it well.

Will you?

June 6, 2018