In the music world a legend has it that Bruno Walther and Igor Stravinsky (both conductors and composers) had a difference of opinion about whether Mozart’s music should be conducted in a spirit of “singing” or “dancing”. A small difference in interpretation and a somewhat wonkish one, you might say. It brings up the spectre of facets and viewpoints in people’s perception of everything and how this is ruled by nature and nurture and fed by impressions, opinions and facts thrown at us from before cradle and all the way to our grave.
Assuming a dynamic and congenial exchange of opinion between two friends, founded on mutual respect, fondness and love, how big a difference of opinion will it take to shift or tip the scales and begin to erode those attributes of friendship? In true friendship, not mere acquaintance, there is a unique intrinsic mechanism of tightly wound springs, ticking cogs and oscillating balances that rules that particular friendship. Consequently, amongst true friendships each has its own mechanics, its own tolerance for deviation from accepted norms and its own number of degrees of freedom this particular friendship can tolerate.
Is there a golden ratio, a critical mass that preserves or potentially destroys a close friendship by shifting the balance between sympathy and antipathy?