Beware of quasi wisdom

Earlier this month I wrote an article about the use of quotes as a tool in personal development.

It is important to beware of quasi wisdom based on either poor quality quotes, or misinterpretation of quotes. Misinterpretation bears a striking resemblance to the problem with a lot of church denominations believing different things about the same Bible verse. They can’t all be right, yet are quite fanatical in the view that their interpretation is the correct one.

Here is an example of what I mean:

If we look at the quote:

“You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him“. ~Leo Aikman

Many agree with this quote, yet when you consider the likes of Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Nero and other despots through the ages it is obvious that this quote is not correct. And obviously, there are various shades of evil in between these people and the “everyday people” that we know. At what point does our censure of them cease to be correct and become a value judgement on our own character?

And what of those people, some of them seasoned Police officers, who have a sense, or hunch, that someone is an especially “bad egg” – despite the “bad egg” being lauded by society at large? We know the ending – so many of these so called “lovely people” being hauled off to prison for kiddie fiddling or some other serious crime.

And then there is the situation where a background investigation reveals a great deal about a person based on what others say about him. Yet, in person the subject comes across as very pleasant with never a bad word to say about anyone. Many con men are like this.

In fact, key aspects of our society are based on referrals and references from others. Jobs, shopping. We often listen to people we know when asking about a dodgy mechanic for example.

And what of those dear souls who really are able to see into the deep within others and issue appropriate warnings?

Of course, this quote does have some elements of truth in it. There is indeed a lot you can tell about someone by the way he or she talks about others, but it can take wisdom to know the difference. And masters of deception can appear to say nice things about people, yet actually be “turning the screw” – most people don’t notice. My mother and father were like this, though mum was better at it – she often tried to pollute my mind or memories with her lies about situations and people, yet she came across all sickly sweet and charming. Anyone without insight would have been easily taken in.

One of the problems with quotes is that people can take them as “fact” and beat up on themselves when they fail at life, according to the quote. We need to have a balanced view supported by critical thinking processes. Don’t just assume a belief or idea is true – think about it first. It helps to take the simple approach and often is a good idea to test the idea against an extreme; such as I did with the Adolf Hitler example above; or a key facet of everyday life such as references and referrals.

Filed Under: Personal Development

Tags: Personal Development • Wisdom