“It is a matter of perfect indifference
where a thing originated; the only question is: “Is it true in and for itself?”
Georg Hegel
What does it take to be original? How much are you
original or a mere reflection of other people? Jean Cocteau – on a lighter note
– thought that originality consists in trying to be like everybody else and
then to fail in the process…
The
very eccentric Salvador Dali said that the first man to compare the cheeks of a
young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly
an idiot.
Is it
so difficult to be original in an age where basically everything has already been
said during the bygone millennia of thinking and speaking? Did we come too late
to the show, as the saying goes? Fran Lebowitz said that original thought is
like original sin: both happened before you were born, to people you could not
have possibly met. Even Steve Jobs asked that we don’t waste limited time by
living someone else’s life. Not to be trapped by dogma - which is living with
the results of other people's thinking. Not to let the noise of other's
opinions drown out your own inner voice; and most important, to have the
courage to follow your heart and intuition. To be original.
I
think that we can all be original in simply speaking the truth, for as the
Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh said, that being truthful has always been known to
all good men. So if you want to be original, then simply dare to be none other
than yourself; to be everything that encompasses you as YOU. Trust yourself,
believe in yourself, and be original.
Originality simply means to be who you are,
not to stray from truthfulness or leaving it ajar.
Don’t be a copy, be the real McCoy…
for unoriginality can truly be an alloy…
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