大象传媒

I probably shouldn鈥檛 admit this on national radio but I鈥檓 really bad at small talk. And I mean REALLY bad! Goodness knows I try, but despite my best efforts I will go from 鈥渉ello鈥� to 鈥渢he meaning of life鈥� in a very short space of time. So the conversation about the weather is never going to be: 鈥淭he weather鈥檚 been odd this year. Lots of rain.鈥� 鈥淵eah, May was quite frosty, wasn鈥檛 it?鈥� Oh no! For me I鈥檒l deep dive straight away.听

鈥淵eah I know. If this year鈥檚 weather is an indication of climate change 鈥搘ell that鈥檚 going to have major long term implications isn鈥檛 it? I wonder if the experts who say we have passed the point of no return are right? Where does God fit in to it鈥攚ith natural catastrophes, that is? I mean if humans caused climate change, we can鈥檛 blame God now, can we?鈥�

I do breathe. I mean I wouldn鈥檛 just dump all that on someone in one go. I have SOME social skills!! It鈥檚 just the 鈥渟kirting round the edges鈥�, 鈥減olite conversations鈥� end up making me feel awkward鈥μ�really听awkward, leading to some legendary social mishaps!听Whereas deep-diving into the meaning of life seem quite natural to me. In Islam, the human is considered to be born with an essential 鈥渇itra鈥� 鈥� an innate disposition towards compassion, intelligence, and beauty, capable of striving towards meaning, and finding true peace therein. So whilst I wish I was good at small talk 鈥� it seems a really useful skill to have - I actually don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 unique in all of this. I think a lot of people would have a lot of 鈥渄eep鈥� conversations about the stuff they care about given half the chance 鈥� it鈥檚 just we often don鈥檛 give each other half a chance.听

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I reckon there鈥檚 a deep-seated yearning to make sense of the world, but that social norms have us brushing that aside 鈥� sort of embarrassed that we have overstepped the mark of 鈥減olite conversation鈥�.听听We daren鈥檛 reveal much of ourselves for fear of rejection.听Except 鈥� I don鈥檛 hold to such conventions, and thus there are a lot of people all over the world who have ended up with probably a lot more than they bargained for when they said to me, 鈥淗ello鈥�. If you were one of them, I hope the conversation went well.听If it didn鈥檛鈥�. umm鈥� 鈥淭he weather鈥檚 been odd this year, hasn鈥檛 it?鈥�

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