Sunday, March 25, 2007

Expanding oneness or influencing others


















I suppose that knowledge is something that expands. Builds on itself. We seem to add to what we know or at least to the core of what we knew that was right. Knowledge builds on itself. Our universe expands.
Personalities interact. Sometimes one person can successfully uplift another. Influence is a term that usually refers to the ability to indirectly affect or even control the actions of other people or things. What it is that influence itself might be might depend on who or what it is that is being affected.

How often do we find a term of which the definition of what it is depends on the object of is impact?

A basketball is a basketball whether or not it is on the way to the hoop or just in someones minds eye, more or less.

Influence on the other hand does not seem to reside only in the person giving it without some dependence on the person to be “influenced”.

This morning I read a blog written by a young lady working on her PHD. She seemed to have been influenced in her thinking by a variety of folks. Since I came to her blog quite by accident I certainly wasn’t able to influence her. Yet perhaps she influenced me.

A couple of weeks ago I visited with a man who over the years has had a lot of influence on me. Meeting and talking and listening to this individual is a lot like finding a cool drink of water in the desert. Of course in that sense it is as much about the hot tired water deprived person as it is about the water. Here to influence itself might depend on who or what it is that is being affected.
As for me and my meeting with my friend I am often affected by observing his interests and really his own passion for his interests. This time I found new books to read and new ways to look at what I had already read. I also found some reassurance in knowing what was important to him. This friend is older than me by about 12 or 13 years. I miss having older friends. Since moving I have missed that.

No comments: