conversation

I had a wonderful dinner and conversation with a friend last night. I've missed being stimulated intellectually by another person. I don't know why, maybe I was too focused on studying when I was in school, but I hadn't let my thoughts run like that for years. I've always kept it to myself or it was just difficult to have that kind of conversation where you just talk about anything and everything with maturity and with a view to understand and be educated. It's not like shallow gossip that we are all guilty of or talk for the sake of talk because we can't stand silences. It's almost like a scientific inquiry into the underlying constructs of everyday occurrences.; the cause and effect that certain social phenomena have on our lives. I think I'm going off on a tangent. But anyway, it was so nice to be able to voice opinions and hear opinions that may or may not contradict my own. The point is, it's important to have these kind of discussions in order to broaden ourselves and not be limited by our ignorance. There is a wealth of knowledge; our brains are meant to be used! Why not have this kind of discourse. It's also a sort of self discovery. You find things about yourself and your views of the world, society, humanity, in other words what is core to your being. It forces you to be honest with the person you're speaking to and with yourself. At certain points during our conversation last night, I realized I was speaking from a view that reflected my personal experiences, beliefs, and values. At some point I realized that I tried to supress these beliefs and the thoughts associated with them, but it's pointless to try to ignore them. It was liberating to talk about them and not be judged. And for myself, it allowed an avenue of understanding why I have the beliefs that I do, and being open to correction, open to other ideas and thoughts. In all, I was extremely delighted with how the night went and I definitely can't wait until the next time we meet.