QUOTES!?%#* 🙂

ok — so, over the past few months I’ve read a couple of facebook articles commenting, listing and spelling out reasons why we should stop posting famous/well-known quotes on our fb pages, websites and on the internet in general.  

My first reaction upon reading this was, I admit, defensive.

   ~  yes, I am a therapist
~  no, I do not have perfect, spontaneous, healthy, appropriate responses at my fingertips 100% of the time

 

Quotes – just look at my website; it’s plastered with the frickin’ things!
I do have a bunch of them to defend;  everything from The Dalai Lama to Daffy Duck

sigh… 

So,  after a few deep breaths,  a meditation/contemplation combo, a nap, composing myself best I could, a stiff drink, and a quick call to my therapist,

AND ..

..being the devil’s advocate and pot-stirrer that I am, I am now prepared to RESPOND, as opposed to react, to said comments and directives. 

Comment & Directive # 1.  This is the internet folks!  Readers are looking for originality.  Take a risk – express yourself.  Don’t just rehash someone else’s quotable insights by pairing them with a new, eye-catching photo. Readers don’t want  out-dated, old-fogey platitudes, banal generalisations and vacuous, meaningless (perhaps even offensive) pablum.

My Enlightened Response:  Of course they do!  What planet are you living on?

Ok, ok sorry …I’ll start again 
Firstly, what’s truely original?  We all have influence, we inspire one another.  We ‘steal’ (usually unconsciously) ideas, concepts and possibilities from each other;  and that, I think, is a good thing. Commonly understood truths, wisdom and understandings are constantly being deepened, expanded upon and become new and freshly interpreted.  And yes, there’s also the possibility they can become badly translated, diluted and inappropriately used.
____________________

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.
-Salvador Dalí
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Secondly, a few months ago I started to occasionally come up with, and post on fb and in my posts here on TME, my own original quotes. I still do.  Because I believe |EVERYONE| has the brilliance inside themselves to see life in a uniquely profound way and thus come up with original insights and perceptions of their own that are worth sharing.  I invited readers to create and post their own quotes to my page.  No one did.  Granted my fb friends are few; and the invitation is still open.  …wink, wink
I will still continue to post mine as inspired;  and risk scrutiny, disdain, dismissal, criticisms, jokes, shame and, worst of all … Rejection 🙁

*Spirit guides be with me*

 

Thirdly,  I personally would love to have the opportunity to sit down with any of these old fogeys and chat.  Da Vinci, Einstein, Watts, O’Keeffe, Rumi …the list is endless.  At least I have the words they have written, or that others have translated and documented about them.  Vacuous, meaningless pablum my ass  – and, you can quote me on that!

                                                                        ~~~

#2.  Many authors are misquoted and receive either incorrect or no  accreditation.

Response:  True enough.  Anyone of us can be lazy, and make mistakes; sometimes even on purpose!  Out of respect, the onus is on us to research and validate the authenticity/accuracy of the quote before posting.  I do wonder if the legitimate author would be all that upset?  Which is more important, the fact that someone might be moved, touched or inspired by his/her quote, or that she/he get the credit they deserve.  Maybe sometimes receiving the intended message is more important than naming the correct author and an exact, word-for-word, offering?  Certainly, receiving both would be ideal and the most respectful.
~~~

All Ideas Are Second-Hand
The kernel, the soul — let us go further and say the substance, the bulk, the actual and valuable material of all human utterances — is plagiarism.

-Mark Twain 

                                                                                              ~~~

#3.  Scientific researchers find people who read and post meaningless quotes to be less intelligent, less discerning and more gullible.

Response:  Hey, remember my intro page?  Now might be a good time to go back and re-read it.   This is Therapy Made Easy.  I’m not claiming to be “the sharpest tack in the box” (who do we attribute that familiar phrase to?).  I’m here for some fun, entertainment, and friendly, meaningful banter.  Meaningful to me anyway.

I’ve certainly seen lots of quotes that make no sense at all to me.  I’ve seen quotes that make sense and have meaning for me, but not for everyone else.  

I like what I like ’cause I like it.  You like what you like ’cause you like it.

– TME

We can all look closer and analyse, if we wish, exactly what it is that we like or dislike about a quote.  Regardless of scientific research, it gets tricky making broad generalisations about what’s going on inside others, what they think they are perceiving, how they interpret and process things and what they find meaningful.    

Sometimes, simple respect is the greatest gift we can give.  – TME   

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   photos:  Visual Supply.co