When I ask my son: “What’s Up,” his reply is always the same – “Good.”

Good, I thought – What kind of response is that? Then after a while I realized he’s one step ahead of me. He’s cutting through the crap. When we ask people “What’s Up,” we aren’t usually looking for a literal response – That would lead to an absurd and unintended result – Actually taking the time to listen to someone else’s story, and God forbid anyone wants to do that! No – When we ask “What’s Up,” we are simply saying “Hi – How you doin’?”

At eight years old, he’s smart enough to realize that things aren’t always meant to be taken literally.

I’m not sure many of us adults are that smart. Too many of us continue to take things too seriously and too literally. And yes, I’m talking about the Bible, Koran and other “Holy Books.” Taking “Holy Books” literally is ridiculous for countless reasons I have covered in my previous posts, not the least of which is using them to condemn others to make ourselves feel better.

If we can’t logically see that things aren’t always meant to be taken literally, maybe we can learn something from an eight year old who is wise enough to know that sometimes when we take things too literally absurd and unintended results will follow.

Timothy Velner is a husband, father, attorney and author living in Minneapolis. You can follow his daily blog – a series of discussions between the worry-self and the present-self at – thespiritualgym.me