Reasons

People often give a Reason instead of answering a question.

For example, if someone asks you, "Do you want to eat?" and you answer by saying, "I am full," you force the questioner to make the Assumption that if you are 'full', you never want to eat. But how many times have you been 'full' and wanted to eat anyway? Just because you are 'full' does not automatically imply that you do not want to eat. You are giving the questioner no answer. You are changing the subject. You are answering a different question. You are answering the question, "How full are you?"

By avoiding giving a straight answer, you act as if it is possible to avoid responsibility for the Conclusion that your questioner makes. You force your questioner to guess that by you saying, "I am full." you are actually saying, "No thank you, I do not want to eat." But you are not saying what you want or do not want. You are implying what you want, but not saying it.

If your questioner guesses wrong about your answer, for example, if they assume that because you are full you do not want to eat, your Gremlin can easily make them wrong by saying, "No! That is not what I meant. Of course I want to eat. I am trying to say that you made a mistake trying to feed me now because I am not hungry. But now I must eat."

For example, if you ask, "What are the plans for tomorrow?" and their answer is, "I am not sure," by giving you a noncommittal answer, "I don't know," they are insuring that they cannot be blamed for giving a wrong answer or already having plans that someone else does not like.

Human Beings are capable of creating by speaking. We make ‘Speech Actions’ which cause something to occur merely by speaking.

For example, saying “I apologize,” is not just describing an apology, but is the act of apologizing itself, of begging for forgiveness, asking for pardon.

Saying, “You're fired,” simultaneously conveys information and enacts the termination of employment.

Speech Act Theory was first revealed in modern culture in 1955 by Oxford philosopher John Langshaw Austin in How to Do Things With Words, and further developed by American philosopher J. R. Searle.

However, in the ancient Aramaic language of Mesopotamia, the phrase, ‘avra kedabra’ means, “I create as I speak.”

Remarkably similar is the Hebrew phrase ‘abreg ad hābreg’, which means, “I will create as I speak.”

Awareness of your power to create as you speak brings new responsibilities.

Speech Acts are able to: greet, choose, declare (makelegends), ask, name, promise, apologize, thank, compliment, invite, propose, accept / agree, decline / reject, explain,commit,delimit (make a boundary), originate/ create, finalize / conclude, defend, attack, distract, congratulate, accuse, complain, blame... and to justify...

Most people are unaware of their power to make Speech Actions, therefore, much of what they say serves unconscious purposes.

Giving a reason is a way to avoid responsibility. Why? If you make a decision, and you give a reason for that decision, then what has the power for that decision? You? Or the reason?

Let us say that I ask why you decided to send your child to public school. If you give reasons like, “Because it is the law. Because I don’t want to be put in jail. Because everyone puts their child in school. Because the child has to learn to get a good job. Because I have to work to pay for rent and food, and school is free childcare.” These are all ‘good’ reasons, meaning they are popular, or publicly acceptable. But in the decision of sending your child to public school, what has the power? You? Or the reason?

The reason has the power. Not you. And if the reason has the power, then you think you are not responsible for your decision. The reason is responsible. Making a decision ‘for a really good reason’ is a trick to try to avoid responsibility. Low Drama is any action or inaction designed to avoid responsibility. Low Drama is Gremlin food. Making a decision ‘for a reason’ is Gremlin food. But, if you make a decision ‘for no reason’, then the only entity which could be responsible for that decision is you. You decide.