23 September 2008 Tuesday

why we can't mind-read

Humans live on secrets, hidden thoughts.

We plan, we bide our time, we consider our words and carry private dialogues. We count on our discourses being heard only by selected recipients, and tailor our messages accordingly.

If everyone — or even one person — could see/hear/feel what we were thinking/feeling all the time, it would change everything.

It’s not necessarily that we’re conniving creatures by nature, but we are not innately open and honest; we calculate, we hide, and — in many more ways than with obvious words — we lie.

That’s not to say we’re (all) bad people, but we are people.

“Man is the only animal that blushes, or needs to.”