The Details Are Unimportant - Grasshopper

Who hasn’t heard the idiom, “The devil is in the details”? It stems from an old German expression: “God is in the details.” Either way, the details often get in the way.

I wish I could count the conversations I’ve been in where a person is telling me a story and stops in midstream because they can’t remember an unimportant detail. They go down the “detail trail” and beat themselves up for not being able to remember something that’s not necessary to communicate their point. The interaction elongates and the story gets painfully longer and the communication suffers.

 

But this is more than about being involved in a boring conversation. We’ve all been the “borer” or “boree” a time or two. This is more about missing the big picture: being present with another.

 

How often is our presence, alone, needed and we jump off into our own little mental stew, instead of staying with another through and through?

 

It’s a gift to give another not only your undivided attention but access to the whole you. The amount of connection cannot be measured by doing so. It has two main benefits:

 

1.     The person actually gets acknowledged, something we all crave.

2.     You get connected to your source: an unlimited cauldron of creativity when it’s your turn to respond.

 

Thinking about what you’re going to say next while another is pouring out their heart is searching for a detail that has the relevance of a fart.

 

I’m reminded of the book title of the recently departed teacher Ram Dass: “Be Here Now.”

 

Being present for another will bring you closer to your godliness, and you won’t get lost in the world of detail – the realm of the man with horns and a tail.