Psychology, Education & Conversation

[Gregory Matthews]

NOTE:  This thread comes from the background of the thread on Sunday and the 7th day.

Back before the Age of Enlightenment, when I was in college, I took a class in the Education Department on the psychology of learning.  In that class, I was introduced to the concept that not only do adults learn differently from children, but adults also have differences in learning style.  IOW,  people in general do not learn in the same manner.

Much later in life, when I was doing graduate work in psychology, I learned more about how adults understand the world around them and how they learn.  Among the various psychological tests that examine this part of our psychology, I came to appreciate the MBTI.   This instrument posits that there are 16 different personality types.  [NOTE  This is not the only instrument that suggests 16 basic personality types.]  Each of these personality types has a direct opposite type.  IOW, an ISTJ will see the world around that person and make decisions quite differently from that of an ENFP.  This is the same for each of the other 14 MBTI personality types.

Recently a R.G. White and I have engaged in an extensive, frank discussion.  While we have discovered some points of agreement, our differences have remained.  At times, each of us has talked above the head of the other.   In some areas, we have probably not even understood the other.  As a result, I have come to the conclusion that we are not likely to ever come together and be convinced by the other.

I believe this is a reality that does not represent a fault in the other person.  It is just how we are constituted.  We are different people and sometimes we are not going to get together in a common agreement.

I will suggest that this also is a challenge for God,  as to how the Holy Spirit has to work with us and yet not violate our free will  I will be the first to say that some will disagree with me on this.  Never the less, I think so.  J  . 

[JoeMo]

4 hours ago, Gregory Matthews said:

In some areas, we have probably not even understood the other.  As a result, I have come to the conclusion that we are not likely to ever come together and be convinced by the other.

I believe this is a reality that does not represent a fault in the other person.  It is just how we are constituted.  We are different people and sometimes we are not going to get together in a common agreement.

I will suggest that this also is a challenge for God,  as to how the Holy Spirit has to work with us and yet not violate our free will  I will be the first to say that some will disagree with me on this.  Never the less, I think so.  J  . 

Very insightful post Gregory; thank you.  I agree that - because of different worldviews and upbringing - there are some subjects that we will never agree upon with others.  For example, how to keep the Sabbath, or what to eat/not eat. Or one party might find a particular subject crucial while the other does not have a dog in the fight.  Others don't care which side of a discussion they take, they just like to argue.