The difference between generalising and brevity

When to expound on a point and when to “just say it”

In my blog post “Reading Fiction as Meditation” I made the rookie error of glancing over the complexity of meditation and essentially dismissed all other forms other than one I wanted to discuss.

That wasn’t my intention, but my intention counts for little when the blog post sounds like I dismissed all other forms.

Luckily, the few people who pointed this out did so politely. And because they kindly took the time to point this out to me, I saw what I could’ve done better.

My intent had been brevity

I know there are forms of meditation that should not be attempted without guidance. However, between wanting to arrive at my point and spending a huge amount of time listening to lectures by Alan Watts, I was caught up in my own ideas.

Am I defending myself? Of course not.

My point here is: in an attempt to be brief, I neglected to at least inform the reader I knew more than I was saying. That is, I know of many types of meditation, and I know there are different approaches.

For the purposes of the blog I was thinking of the sort of meditation — which may not, strictly speaking, be a formal style — that is relaxation, that is not being hung up on the future or the past, but enjoying the “eternal now.”

Instead of feeling guilty about reading, or feeling it’s a waste of time, you should realise that in the here and now you are reading. That is all you’re doing. And all you need to be doing while the book is in your hand.

Generalising vs brevity

To generalise is to often leave things unsaid: to assume the reader knows what you’re talking about. Which can, sometimes, leave the author in a position of looking either silly, ill-informed, lazy, or all three.

Brevity in this case, may be better thought of as being succinct.

Simply saying what needs to be said, instead of exhausting every possible meaning and leading the reader down every possible rabbit warren because you’re afraid they haven’t grasped the full meaning of what you’re saying.

Thank you for reading.