Conversation is not table tennis, but music

In.

Conversation is not table tennis, but music

For example, the author once said, "Well, I see! Conversation is not table tennis, it's music! I realized that. You probably don't understand what I mean even if you just read this. However, he feels that he has been able to verbalize what he feels. Now, let's break this down into language that will be understood.

In a ping-pong rally, it is important to hit back the ball as soon as it comes flying. If you cannot hit the ball back, you will lose. I realized then that I also think it is important to "respond quickly to what the other person says" in conversation.

However, music is different from table tennis. As the saying goes, "Music is the silence between sounds" (Note 8), and it is precisely because there are pauses that sounds come alive.

In conversation, too, there is value in the time of silence between words. It is during the time of silence that "what is not yet verbalized" deep within us is drawn out, crystallized, and new insights are born, giving power to the next word.

This was the concept that crystallized in the mind of the author when the metaphor "like music, not table tennis" was created. The metaphor was not created in order to have something to convey and to explain it in an easy-to-understand manner. The metaphor was created first, and then this sentence was created by adding additional explanations to make it easier to understand.

Note 8.)

──Claude Debussy

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