Why Mouth Fruit?
Why a blog?
I want to share the notions of good-bringing discussion with others. I want to explore and learn with others. I want to come along aside others from everywhere who are not content to just complain about the roaring fire of animosity in our world, but want to methodically do something, hoping to stay in good faith. I want to improve my life and that of beloved. Let's build up tools and talents, compassion and courage.
What were those three things again?
- learn about fruitful dialogue with wonder
- spread about the idea of fruitful dialogue through
- example (direct observation) → seen
- externalities (rippling consequences) → felt
- exchange (fruitful dialogue itself) → received
- exhortation (encouragement, emboldening) → tried
- bring about benefits for each participant in the fruitful dialogue
Where do I start? Learning, sharing, discussing.
That start sounds hard and dangerous. To you and to me I say, "Take heart." Let's take small steps with some wandering to smell the flowers, to take in the beauty of what we see. Let's not shower each other with platitudes like "be nice," but rather learn how with incremental enjoyment, enlightenment and encouragement in each step.
I am not saying "Wait! You are not ready! You have take the steps first!"
The door is open. Though we might all be abecedarians or even Keystone Cops, we can each step out and try to be careful in our conversation. Wanna do something now? Do it! Try listening and learning in the very next conversation you have. Your dog might sniff your mouth and the the other party might ask if something is wrong. Simply say that you are considering starting a journey of good listening and speaking, learning and applying along the way. Or simply say, "Today, I want to learn more about you and I want to speak in a manner helpful to that." Or blurt, "Mouth Fruit!" Or kiss, if appropriate.
The purpose of the Mouth Fruit blog is to not only spread knowledge of dialogue, but also to encourage and guide individuals in pursuing fruitful dialogue.
Growing
I hope to learn from commenters. I will be pulling in information from all over:
- Linguistics
- Psychology
- Ethnology
- Economics
- Rhetoric
- Discourse analysis
- World languages
- Metaphysics
- Language construction
- and, yes, Child development
I don't have eight graduate degrees, though. As I am describing something in one field, I am scrambling to get up to speed on the latest in some other field.
If you see I am using terms wrong, let me know. If I am leaving out some important consideration, comment!
But, why the name Mouth Fruit?
Why not? I think it conveys what this is about, especially if some good logo helps. Here is an early one that chatGPT gave me:
And it sounds a bit fearless. One has to say it as two distinct words. Don't be shy. Blurt it out! Mouth Fruit!