Living Under the Influence of Hype and Cliché
Hype and cliché bully our senses and assault our minds, undermining our ability to find our way through the mystery that life is. No doubt countless images tend to surface when absorbing the title to this short essay. Well, I have many "titles" to let loose. I enjoy how just a few words can offer perspective. Combine words with a visual and the scope of meaning grows. Ultimately, the legitimate prejudice of interpretation goes to work. Everyone has a point of view.
Hype and cliché do everything to grab our attention. They shape points of view. The human environment is awash with seductive gimmicks, flimsy formulas and miracle cures. Consequently, life inside a bubble of fabrications is commonplace. A big blur typically rules. Occasional flirting with fashion may tender a brief lift but more often complacency takes root. Unfortunately, a routine of buying and selling does more to limit our horizons than not. Bubbles spell trouble. Obviously something is not working well when there is little going on to make it work better. Valuable creative juices are at risk of evaporating under these conditions. We are building (our lives) here. We need our minds to do that successfully - institutionalized consumerism will hardly do it for us. Hype and cliché have one purpose only: to muscle their way into that critical piece of real estate situated between our ears. However, a healthy mind remains free of clutter, creatively forging ahead.
Babble is a byproduct of the rapid-fire hype and cliché culture: something to talk about is automatic. Something that warrants further discussion can quickly fade into the background. Who takes notes? Increasingly more common are the lone individuals you see talking to themselves; too many mental notes tend to overwhelm. Indeed it is more pleasurable to partake in a grounded conversation where quaint or subtle remarks engender introspection. New insights help build broader vistas and grow the imagination. By taking notes as we go along, we gain valuable traction and a sense of momentum.
Something to think about is the constant of the human story. Poet-engineer, Buckminster Fuller, eloquently remarked, "I seem to be a verb". We think and we do - in a nutshell. We do have our own points of view! So being herded by the likes of hype and cliché is not amusing for most of us. There is a pride among us. We are tribes or we come from tribes. Our DNA states: it is the story we are passing on to others that we want to get right. We know there are distractions and attractions that get in the way of doing this, however. With our story, there is more to understand than there is to know. Patience is needed. The statement posters here at subtletalk.com are meant to caress the mind, at least. In many ways we all share the same point of view but the bumps in the road often alter the horizon.
DH
10/10/10
Halifax
Website launched 15/11/11