“A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.” ― Steve Martin
As long as we are overstating the obvious.
As far as the OP's quote goes, I find that in order to be true to one's self, one must play one's cards close to one's chest, very close. I'm not sure what two should do though. Things are much more complicated for two.
Sometimes the only way to guard ones privacy is to mislead, as in being false to others. Gets hard to say the truth and let the chips fall where they may. Very hard.
I guess in the context of the OP quote, not being false to any man may be interpreted as doing whatever it takes to distance yourself from any man and that goes double if they are Mormon.
Good luck. Perhaps you shouldn't be the one to drop off the face of the earth. Perhaps that would be a nice suggestion for them.
An interesting view. Polonius is a humorous figure whom Hamlet calls a "tedious old fool." He is kept around largely because he pleases the king with platitudes that sound good but are almost always wrong in the context of the play.
I think you've indicated the superficiality in "to thine own self be true. . ." quite effectively. Everybody to one degree or another must protect his integrity through discretion. When someone asks "how are you?" they don't really care about the answer and you have no obligation to say "well, my mother is dying of cancer, I hate my spouse, and my dog just died." A simple "I'm fine, how are you?" is dishonest but entirely appropriate.
That is of course a trivial example, but the fact remains that boundaries are important. For a young gay person growing up in the church or some other rabidly homophobic community, being "true to thyself" publicly is an invitation to disaster. In fact the gay person owes no one "the truth." The appropriate, the moral, course is to deny others information to which they have no right.
Perhaps Polonius's sentiment would better have been phrased something like "to thine own self be true and let the rest be damned."
Lot's Wife Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > An interesting view. Polonius is a humorous > figure whom Hamlet calls a "tedious old fool." He > is kept around largely because he pleases the king > with platitudes that sound good but are almost > always wrong in the context of the play. > > I think you've indicated the superficiality in "to > thine own self be true. . ." quite effectively. > Everybody to one degree or another must protect > his integrity through discretion. When someone > asks "how are you?" they don't really care about > the answer and you have no obligation to say > "well, my mother is dying of cancer, I hate my > spouse, and my dog just died." A simple "I'm > fine, how are you?" is dishonest but entirely > appropriate. > > That is of course a trivial example, but the fact > remains that boundaries are important. For a > young gay person growing up in the church or some > other rabidly homophobic community, being "true to > thyself" publicly is an invitation to disaster. > In fact the gay person owes no one "the truth." > The appropriate, the moral, course is to deny > others information to which they have no right. > > Perhaps Polonius's sentiment would better have > been phrased something like "to thine own self be > true and let the rest be damned."
I wonder how well Laertes followed his father's advice?
"ALWAYS... no, wait--NEVER...no, wait...ALWAYS carry a litter bag in your car. It doesn't take up much room, and if it gets full, you can toss it out the window.”
Done & Done Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Even at my age I still don't know who the hell I > am I just know who the hell I'm NOT and that is > working well enough.
And leaving Mormonism was a great way to being true to my self as a living being and not myself as a concept.
Something as illusory as a "Self" can only be indirectly observed. We are too close for realistic observations.
I really appreciate all the comments from the members of this forum. sometimes I think that you think things through. Sometimes not. However we are here to recover: Each in his own words--Each in his own way.
Love famous quotes but they are often delivered inaccurately or incompletely. One favorite example is a famous Churchill quote often delivered inaccurately as "Never give up," or incompletely as "Never give in."
What he said was: "Never give in, never, never-never, in nothing great or small, large of petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense."
The last part is so important to the first and kind of underlines my own let the chips fall where they may attitudes to stepping away from Mormonism.