Dear Reader,
A search of my essay archives produced the following essay titled Pictures and Points which I wrote for an ethnic paper 13 years ago and am reproducing here as it relates to the last two essays posted, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2018, and UNSEEN INFLUENCES, both of which relate to the difference between male and female thinking.
I hope that you find this article enlightening and trust that you will remember the point and not get bogged down in the picture
E.G.
PICTURES AND POINTS
To help pay the bills I do storytelling, and as part of that activity I belong to an organization that promotes storytelling among senior citizens, locates opportunities for them to speak, and helps to train them. During a training session I told a story of the meticulous detail my family put into the decoration of its Christmas trees and indicated that our trees were so beautiful that people from the neighborhood would drop by to see them. At the end of my story a constructive comment made by one of the trainers was that she would like to know (she meant see) what the neighbors looked like, how old they were, and what they wore. I appreciated her comments and decided that if time allowed I would fit those descriptions into my story. An aspect of that story that the commenter did not “see” was the concept or point. The point was that if a tree is beautifully decorated people would appreciate it. That concept will exist regardless of who the people were or what they wore, and will remain after all the people are dead and buried. Men speak to each other in concepts; they get the point − it’s not necessary to paint the picture. That’s one reason that men don’t have to talk a lot to each other − they deal primarily in points.
There are metaphysical truths contained in the difference between pictures and points. Points remain while pictures pass. The unseen world will remain long after what is seen passes. Pictures emanate from points, what is seen emanates from that which is unseen. All great religious texts are written in such a way that the truth is offered in both a seen and unseen manner. “Whatever a man soweth, that shall he also reap,” is a picture representation of the unseen universal law of cause and effect. Women think in pictures, men think in pictures and points, which enables men to write the great truths both ways.
Because women think in pictures they have no points to their stories. I have never heard the trainers at any of my story telling training sessions ask, “What is the point?” Stories without points are descriptions of sensation. That’s what women talk about, their sensational responses. Men understand this trait of women and accommodate them where possible, however; there are times when men want to discuss the point and can’t because of the presence and involvement of women. That was the reason Paul in his letter to Timothy stated that women should not speak in church, and if there was anything they did not understand they should ask their husbands when they got home. Spirituality deals with the unseen. Men understand the unseen and can converse about it. Women cannot; they are equipped to nurture the race, which is a seen activity.
Getting back to storytelling and the request for more physical detail by the trainers − which means they want to see more of a picture − is indicative of all social, academic, and professional intercourse in the Western culture. To accommodate by law the picture people, the point is not addressed. Consequently we deal only with effects (the seen) and not the causes (the unseen). It’s time to address that point and not be lost in the picture.
Note: As you reflect on this article consider what is happening to your sons as they receive education in an environment of female understanding in which none of their male attributes receive development. What can they possibly be equipped to contribute to society when they reach adulthood?
E.G.
