Don’t Conversations Illuminate Truth Too?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Pastor John, in a recent episode on writing,
00:00:06.960 | you said this, quote, "The actual process of writing
00:00:10.320 | "is the most important portal by which new light
00:00:14.240 | "shines into your mind on a topic," end quote.
00:00:18.400 | Now some friends of ours online on Twitter
00:00:20.880 | pushed back on your statement and said
00:00:22.740 | this may be a personality difference,
00:00:24.440 | saying that for them, the process of gaining new light
00:00:28.560 | on a topic comes most importantly from conversations
00:00:32.540 | that they have with others.
00:00:34.400 | What do you say?
00:00:35.280 | Is this a personality difference
00:00:37.040 | and does this in any way change your original statement?
00:00:41.260 | - One must be so careful.
00:00:46.120 | Yes, now I'm trying to think how to make this answer
00:00:48.960 | longer than 30 seconds.
00:00:50.480 | (laughing)
00:00:52.760 | They probably wouldn't be satisfied with yes, would they?
00:00:56.360 | I have no authority to tell someone else
00:01:01.240 | that starting to write will bring more insight for them
00:01:06.240 | than having a conversation with someone, okay?
00:01:09.280 | So to be completely accurate, I could have said
00:01:14.280 | the actual process of writing is, for me, okay, for me,
00:01:19.320 | the most important portal by which new light shines
00:01:24.560 | into your mind on a topic.
00:01:26.780 | And as I thought about it,
00:01:29.040 | maybe there's another qualification I should have made.
00:01:32.320 | Namely, I'm assuming that every strategy
00:01:37.240 | of seeking new light on any topic
00:01:40.320 | is soaked in prayer for light.
00:01:44.320 | So that in one sense, prayer is the most important portal
00:01:49.320 | of new insight.
00:01:53.920 | And there may be other qualifications I should have made
00:01:57.200 | or should make as well.
00:01:59.680 | But, okay, having said that,
00:02:03.080 | my aim is to help writers break free
00:02:09.160 | from the paralysis of not writing
00:02:14.420 | because they don't yet know what they think about an issue.
00:02:20.400 | Okay?
00:02:21.520 | And my point is, knowing what you think about an issue
00:02:26.520 | with clarity and fullness doesn't precede writing,
00:02:32.240 | but comes from writing.
00:02:37.580 | That's what I'm gonna stand by.
00:02:40.720 | Now, I know, I am sure, that there are some folks
00:02:45.120 | whose brains are so amazing in their capacities
00:02:50.540 | to hold an idea in place and look at it
00:02:54.560 | from 30 different angles and see hundreds of relationships
00:02:59.560 | between the idea and those angles
00:03:04.040 | and the relationships among the angles themselves
00:03:07.680 | that they could think something through
00:03:11.640 | and have it clear in their minds
00:03:13.960 | before they put anything on paper.
00:03:18.200 | Maybe there's three of those people,
00:03:20.260 | like Albert Einstein.
00:03:23.020 | And let's just say the vast majority of us,
00:03:26.980 | that is not true.
00:03:28.380 | Writing is a way the mind can start seeing clearly
00:03:33.380 | what was before a fuzzy tangle of thoughts.
00:03:40.220 | So God bless conversations.
00:03:43.860 | Amen. Conversations.
00:03:46.300 | I have had incredibly illumining conversations
00:03:51.300 | that got me some important breakthroughs.
00:03:55.240 | But here's reality for me, for me.
00:03:59.040 | And I just wanna make sure people whom God is calling
00:04:03.120 | to write are giving this its due power.
00:04:05.920 | After two or three flashes of insight
00:04:09.720 | come from a conversation that you would not have had
00:04:14.040 | on your own, praise God for conversations,
00:04:17.900 | writing now or not writing, what shall we do?
00:04:22.900 | Now what should we do?
00:04:24.000 | Now you've got your flashes of insight.
00:04:25.680 | For me, those insights are bursting with possibilities.
00:04:30.680 | So I've come away from a conversation,
00:04:33.480 | those insights are bursting with possibilities.
00:04:36.480 | Those possibilities are going in 10 directions at once.
00:04:40.920 | How do those possibilities flowing from those three insights
00:04:45.320 | become clear and defined and differentiated
00:04:48.560 | and interrelated and coherent?
00:04:50.940 | I know of no answer to that question but writing.
00:04:56.120 | For me, and I think I'm really average in this regard,
00:05:00.560 | not exceptional, more conversations won't bring me,
00:05:05.560 | and I think most people, to this stage of clarity
00:05:09.760 | and definition and differentiation
00:05:12.160 | and interrelationship and coherence.
00:05:15.560 | So sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night
00:05:18.240 | after a conversation or after anything
00:05:22.920 | and a flash of insight is there.
00:05:26.080 | And I'm lying there in bed with this insight
00:05:29.940 | that may or may not have come from a conversation
00:05:32.360 | and the implications of it are starting to pour
00:05:35.640 | and question after question is starting to come
00:05:38.860 | to my mind and I know what I have to do.
00:05:42.400 | I have to turn the light on and at least reach
00:05:47.320 | for a pad of paper, which I have in the drawer
00:05:49.720 | beside my desk, and write enough to preserve that
00:05:54.100 | till the next day when I can get writing
00:05:56.600 | for clarity on the thought that seed,
00:05:59.560 | that seed will not come to fruition of illumination
00:06:04.320 | in my mind without that.
00:06:05.960 | So I'll say it again.
00:06:08.620 | Yes, we are all wired differently.
00:06:11.020 | Different experiences bring light to our minds
00:06:14.220 | in different ways, but for those of you
00:06:17.120 | who are called to write, I offer you this claim.
00:06:21.820 | For the vast majority of you, the confusion you feel
00:06:27.860 | over what you are supposed to say or want to say
00:06:32.660 | will not go away until you try to say it.
00:06:37.400 | And saying it on paper preserves it and lets you go back
00:06:42.400 | and see what you thought five minutes ago.
00:06:45.600 | And writing is a great way of thus seeing.
00:06:50.600 | So don't let your confusion about what to write
00:06:55.940 | keep you from writing the very writing
00:06:59.420 | that blows away the confusion.
00:07:02.400 | - Very good thoughts, Pastor John, thank you.
00:07:04.200 | And if you have a question to send John Piper,
00:07:06.460 | or if you wanna catch up on recent episodes,
00:07:08.540 | or if you wanna listen to the most popular episodes
00:07:10.760 | of all time in this podcast series,
00:07:13.200 | you can do all of that from our landing page.
00:07:16.440 | And episode number 582 was the centerpiece
00:07:19.400 | of this episode, by the way.
00:07:20.820 | You can find episode number 582 in the archive.
00:07:24.600 | And for all of this, go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:07:31.500 | Well, maybe you are a writer,
00:07:32.900 | or you are wondering if you are.
00:07:34.900 | Has God called you to serve the church with a pen?
00:07:38.900 | And how can I know if he has?
00:07:40.400 | I wanna ask John Piper this question tomorrow.
00:07:43.240 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:07:44.080 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
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