Someone once said, “Words only carry the significances we assign to them.”

Beautiful. Perfect.

This small quotes solves practically all conflicts in life. People love to interpret what other people mean when they use words, what we need to do is ASK the person stating the words what they actually mean. In this way we realize that the conflict is really not a conflict at all, and that both sides actually agree with one another.

This reminds me of a story that my Uncle told me when he came over to my house this weekend. He told me about a couple that was having immense problems so a Shaykh told them to sit in separate rooms and write down all the issues they had with each other, and then to write down the solutions. When they switched papers, the couple realized that a lot of the problems and solutions were identical!

Pretty funny, eh?

Therefore here is my advice: Don’t get hurt by words, most likely you have misunderstood what the person is saying.

This advice can carry on into the religious and academic world as well. Scholars of different “leanings” will bicker and criticize another person’s writings without seeking to understand what the author actually meant.

If they only talked to each other, in they end they would realize that they both have the same goal and aim, and most likely a similar understanding–probably just manifested in a slightly different way.

I will look at the beach, and my brother will look at the beach.  When we describe the beach to my mother…we will both say different things…but we intend and still retain the same image in our mind.  :)