Are Two Heads Really Better?

The purpose of this blog is to bring some tête-à-tête to the dinner table. Please forward / like / tweet ....

In honor of 3 anniversaries: Marc & Lily, Joel and Lisa....and ours.
And happy birthday to Elliott in SF.

Today's lead question for your table: When are two heads better than one and when are they not?

This two-headed porpoise was caught recently in the North Sea.

(And if you think that's weird, you should see some of truly ghastly mosters living down there.)

Can we agree that this is this is a case of two heads not being better than one?

So when are two heads better than one?

How about solving a problem.

For example, here is a Daniel Kahneman problem that very, very few people can solve on their own. You can try it, but chances are you'll need to talk it out with someone:

Reuven is looking at Sarah, but Sarah is looking at Shimon. Reuven is married, but Shimon is not. Is a married person looking at an unmarried person?

• A) Yes
• B) No
• C) Cannot be determined

+ + + + + + +

On their own, over 70 percent answer C.

On their own, they cannot fathom why A is the correct answer.

Try working together to see if you can understand why the correct answer is A.

Are two heads better?

Moving beyond problem-solving, pop-philosopher Alain de Botton is a big fan of that classic 2-headed arrangement known as marriage.

He argues that marriages are often on the rocks not because we married the wrong person but because we never learned how to love. In his brilliant lecture, he urges married people to do two things:

1. Change the way you respond to imperfection
2. Rather than look at compromise as a necessary evil, embrace the "nobility of compromise"

Speaking of compromise, and speaking of two heads, one of the most noble compromises a couple can make is to eat similar foods, especially when it comes to the pungents.
In other words, if your partner eats garlic, so should you.

The purpose of your marriage is to travel the road together.

If she goes the garlic route, so should you. The evenings will pass so much more happily.

And you will finally understand the deeper meaning of "two heads are better than one."

Question for your table: Is there some wisdom here? Or has the rabbi finally gone mad?


Shabbat Shalom

PS - A book of 2-headed Jewish business wisdom
PPS What you get when talking heads sing

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From the Music Philes

The goal of this blog is to stimulate some harmony at your Friday night dinner table.... please print and share.

In case you didn't hear it from me last week, Shana tova - happy new year.

Here's an opening question for your table, which some readers heard me ask in my high holidays classes over the past couple weeks:


What is a shofar?

Think about it.

I'm not asking you what it's made of. I'm asking you what it is.

My answer:

It's a musical instrument.

Think about it.

Isn't it interesting that despite all the rituals that we have for the holidays, the only thing the Torah mentions doing on Rosh Hashana is blowing shofar?

I.e., playing music?

So that leads me to my second question for your table:

What makes great music great?

If you agree with me that great music includes harmony, then you can tackle this week's third question for your table:

What's the secret to great harmony?

(I'll give you a hint: it's a one-word answer....)

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Sukkot

PS:


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