It is just as likely that as I invent what I want to say, you will invent what you want to hear.
Interpretation
Communication can be subjective, with both speaker and listener interpreting messages based on their own experiences and desires.
This quote highlights the challenges inherent in communication, suggesting that both the speaker and the listener bring their own interpretations and biases into a conversation. As the speaker expresses their thoughts, the listener is simultaneously filtering those words through their own perspectives and expectations, which can lead to misunderstandings if they are not mindful of this dynamic.
In practice
During a discussion about sensitive topics, this quote can remind participants to be aware of their own biases.
What is remembered is not a deed in stone but a metaphor. Meta = above. Pheren = to carry. That which is carried above the literalness of life. A way of thinking that avoids the problems of gravity. The word won't let me down. The single word that can release me from all that unuttered weight.
Reading things that are relevant to the facts of your life is of limited value. The facts are, after all, only the facts, and the yearning passionate part of you will not be met there. That is why reading ourselves as a fiction as well as fact is so liberating. The wider we read the freer we become.
I have a list of titles that I leave at the [library] desk, because they are bound to be written some day, and it's best to be ahead of the queue.
Woolf wanted to say dangerous things in Orlando but she did not want to say them in the missionary position.
In that house, you will find my heart. You must break in, Henri, and get it back for me.' Was she mad? We had been talking figuratively. Her heart was in her body like mine. I tried to explain this to her, but she took my hand and put it against her chest. Feel for yourself.
History is a string full of knots, the best you can do is admire it, and maybe tie it up a bit more. History is a hammock for swinging and a game for playing.
Forgiveness is unlocking the door to set someone free and realising you were the prisoner!
Gee, I never thought I had an effect on people until I was in Korea.
Marriage is like a three-speed gearbox - affection, friendship, love. It is not advisable to crash your gears and go right through to love straightaway. You need to ease your way through. The basis of love is respect, and that needs to be learned from affection and friendship.
We must keep ourselves in touch, not with theories, but with people. We must never get out of touch with them if we are going to use the Word of God skillfully amongst them and if the Holy Spirit is to apply the Word of God through us.
What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.
I think for people who are inside these relationships that are really hard to leave, there is always a compelling reason to stay. It's not that they are wholly bad people.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.