Saturday, April 16, 2011

Unnerving

If there were a common thread between people who qualify, by popular consensus, as 'unnerving' - it must be their refusal to engage in small talk. Erasure of bullshit quotient in a conversation means the erasure of impersonal, quickie 'hooks': the foundation of so much social intercourse. When you enter a room unnerving person inhabits, you make eye contact and dive into the deep end. This implies neither dour face nor joyless conversation. What it means is that if you're unwilling to lay all your cards on the table, you might as well not be there at all.

Don't be humble with fools. Don't take pride into the presence of a master.
~From Jalaluddin Rumi's 'The Three Fish'

1 comment:

JC said...

One has perhaps to see the intention of the 'unnerving' person...That is, whether he or she wants to harm you, or to educate you, or perhaps get educated oneself, for it might never be too late in life to learn...