:fire: :clap:The way I see it, all humans, perhaps all sentient beings for that matter, come with a constellation of limits to (their) understanding imposed by physical or mental factors (sorry I can't be more specific than that) and we, humans, try our very best to fit reality, the universe, within a construct so constrained. In short, we are the cage and the reality is the bird we want encage i.e. grasp on our own terms. — TheMadFool
[M]an is tormented by no greater anxiety than to find someone quickly to whom he can hand over that gift of freedom with which the ill-fated creatures is born.
A cage is for removing the freedom of a bird; a bird is not for caging. — Kenosha Kid
Like defiance, overcoming?
But that makes it a Pyrrhic victory: remove, undo the self, so that there's no one to cage. — baker
"A cage went in search of a bird.".
— New2K2
Two similar ironic aphorisms come to mind:
To a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
The second is apparently a fake quote attributed to Leon Trotsky by author Alan Furst. — T Clark
from the introduction to the book which states that Kafka was happiest when he was sick and certain of death. Such a temperament/outlook might indicate that Kafka considered the human body a cage and his mind/soul a bird — New2K2
Are these also from a collection of Aphorisms?
I liked the first one. — New2K2
My favourite version of the first which I was told was Maslow (but such quotes seem to transmigrate) is this: "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything as a nail.' Which sharpens it for me. — Tom Storm
The limits of a person's world view. — Tom Storm
My reading of a cage went in search of a bird is - a cage is pointless without a bird in it. So it describes all the empty people 'cages' in search of their truth 'birds'. When they find it they will trap it and render it a prisoner in their mind - where the meaning no longer soars. — Tom Storm
Also - The idea of a live hammer searching out nails to smash always makes me smile. I think, most important, the version I quoted is ironic and sinister, which I think is appropriate to it's meaning. — T Clark
Or, maybe, without a bird, it's not a cage at all, it's just a box made of wire. — T Clark
My reading of a cage went in search of a bird is - a cage is pointless without a bird in it. So it describes all the empty people 'cages' in search of their truth 'birds'. When they find it they will trap it and render it a prisoner in their mind - where the meaning no longer soars.
— Tom Storm
That's pretty close to my reading, although, as I said, it feels a bit more sinister than that to me. — T Clark
When a 'thinker' adopts an opinion he becomes caged. From that cage he studies the world and while he can still see his view is changed. He is now constant instead of free and interprets everything with himself as the axis mundi. — New2K2
So, T Clark I guess that's about as sinister as I can reach right now.
Could you expand on how you see it as such ? — Amity
I have to say - 'A cage went in search of a bird' - initially had be thinking it was the start of a Jewish joke. — Tom Storm
Joseph K. is an anti-hero, he lives in inauthenticity, it is actually guilty. Accused, wrongly perhaps, he eventually abdicated, he is convinced he is guilty. While he could escape, flee his trial, K., like modern man prefers to be killed, he abandoned all desire to live. He was shot down “like a dog” because he lets himself be dominated by the society, which has fixed, objectified, riveted him to his guilt.
Is that what you were getting at ?That's pretty close to my reading, although, as I said, it feels a bit more sinister than that to me. — T Clark
We feel safe clinging to the trappings of categories...we label ourselves for ease of description but... to confine ourselves to a single position...that can't be good for us ? — Amity
German prison guards and officers could identify groups and pit them against each other.
Political prisoners, such as Communists, Socialists, and trade unionists wore red triangles. Common criminals wore green. Roma View This Term in the Glossary (Gypsies) and others the Germans considered "asocial" or "shiftless" wore black triangles. Jehovah's Witnesses wore purple and homosexuals pink. Letters indicated nationality: for example, P stood for Polish, SU for Soviet Union, F for French. — Holocaust Encyclopedia
For me, this thread has really brought home to me how our various interpretations reflect our own selves and what is important to us. — Amity
So, how might this be 'sinister' ? — Amity
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