Is it me or is this a horrible thing?
When quotes are taken out of context far too often they are stripped of their meaning and re-contextualized in the context of ME, perhaps the true religion of the world and thus the true cause of all 'religious' wars.
I recently tried taking a marriage counseling course and on about slide three appears a quote from H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft is fine when taken in context but after emailing the team behind these videos I learned exactly what I feared: they had no idea who he was and chose his words based on their meaning in the context of their videos. Doesn't matter that he was an atheist and, more significantly, 'nativist' (i.e. racist) and that my wife and I are a mixed couple.
When I emailed him about this the response I got beyond was 'I don't know who he is' was 'I can't guarantee this won't happen again so you're probably better served elsewhere.' Disappointing from a Ph. D. I supposed I was hoping for some kind of dialogue, perhaps a deeper probe into why this was so upsetting, but I got the boot. Reinforced exactly what it was that trouble me about the use of the quote and the fact that this happens all the time.
Self-help gurus do it all the time, take a hodgepodge of quotes from wherever it is that suits their purpose and frame it around their own ideology that making a religion of ME. I think it is the fact there is no center of truth in this approach; this is how people find themselves enslaved in a cult led by a charismatic leader. That person becomes the center of truth through which everything is filtered.
Self-help gurus do it all the time, take a hodgepodge of quotes from wherever it is that suits their purpose and frame it around their own ideology that making a religion of ME. I think it is the fact there is no center of truth in this approach; this is how people find themselves enslaved in a cult led by a charismatic leader. That person becomes the center of truth through which everything is filtered.
It is a shortcut and is the same thing far too many do with the Bible and other holy texts. I will fit the meaning, whatever it is (don't care, really) to fit what I'm trying to say whether or not it's right and I'm assuming that just referring to said author of the quote will have power enough to meaning something. Thump.
I've written about Rumi being Americanized before and stumbled across a similar article from The New Yorker:
May as well just chuck the Bible and quote Hollywood or rock music and call it church.
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