What with the questions being short this week and the answers potentially interesting, I will do today’s Monday Mission despite having almost decided to drop it off my meme list…
1.What is the difference between spirituality and religion?
Spirituality is having an awareness that there is another sort of reality which reaches beyond the physical reality of science. Religion is a formulated set of beliefs about that reality. You can have spirituality without religion, but religion without spirituality would be like the shop-fronts in old westerns, two-dimensional and fake.
2. What is the difference between someone listening to what you say and hearing what you say?
I’d say “listening” means actually taking something in and trying to understand it and react to it, whereas “hearing” simply implies that the ear picks the sound up and sends the signals to your brain, leaving your brain free to ignore them or deal with them depending on its (or your) whim. I know people who’d put those definitions the other way around, though.
3. What’s the difference between a Father, and a Daddy?
Well, I call my father the equivalent of “daddy” in Norwegian (“Pappa”), and “father” sounds a lot more formal to me when I say it. It depends on the person who says it, though, I know people who’ve been used to saying “father” all their lives and it does not sound formal in their mouths. So I don’t really think there is a difference.
4. What’s the difference between being married and living together?
Marriage is a whole different sort of commitment in my eyes, and living together just seems so much more casual. I do, however, recognise that some people are unable to subscribe to the various societal forms of marriage and “just” live together but feel as deep a commitment to their relationship as a marriage would entail to me.
5. What’s the difference between growing up and growing old?
Growing up is about taking responsibility for your own actions. Growing old is one of two things: A. losing your childishness and growing stale in your thoughts or B. the physical fact of wrinkles, hairloss, bad hearing, achy joints and shaky legs.
6. What’s the difference between getting what you want and getting what you need?
Big. Obviously. What you need might not be what you want at all.
7. What’s the difference between punishment and discipline?
Real discipline should be able to exisist without punishment, it’s got to do with respect and responsibility. Punishment should act as a reminder that discipline has been broken, not as the only incentive to keep it.
Voice in my head: Fleetwood Mac – I wanna be with you everywhere (which is not the answer to the bonus question, but does include the line “Can you hear me calling out your name?”)