Quotations and Literature Forum

I read this in the motivational quotes section and didn't fully understand it's message:

The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing.
Eric Berne (1910 - 1970)

I'm a bit confused so it'd be great if anyone could explain...

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"I am not afraid... I was born to do this"

"Help yourself. God will help you" ( Aide toi. Dieu t'aidera. )

--- Joan of Arc

I think maybe it's about mans opinions and or judgements about the world and everything in it. Once we have named or judged or made an opinion of something we are no longer an observer seeing the world through fresh child like eyes. We narrow the mind and compromise the very thing we look upon. why must we be of the opinion of anything? why can't something just BE?

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Challenge your beliefs, or your beliefs will challenge you.

Perhaps understanding is the greatest obstacle to true happiness.

Well, picture the actual scene...

A little boy watches a bird. He's fixated on the antics of the little creature with it's fluttering wings and cheerful voice. He watches it in childlike wonder.

Then someone comes to him and interrupts--"Young man, what kind of bird is that you're watching?"

And just like that, all the wonder has gone out of it...

Sometimes worrying about the particulars distracts us from the beauty and joy of the situation itself.

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And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke

Thanks everyone. Really helpful replies.

Hay! Every body? I am going to explain the meaning or the moral of the quotation in a minute. But, I want to start with piece of apology to the Forum. Last time I have registered on the forum and start to reply "the friendship and love" quotation right away before entertaining the forum with greeting. Today I am introducing myself though it is too late. My name is SANTINO CHUOR and I am residing in U.S.A. Thank to those who setup the forum. I hope my apology will be accepted.

The quotation is " the moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow. he can no longer see the birds or hear them singing".

What this mean to me is very different from what it seems to be. For any reader to understand this quotation, take jay is a type of noisy bird. It is not what it is her. The target word is a noisy. First thing you need to do here is ask yourself, is noise a good thing? The answer is no. noise is not a good thing people like. Another term here is sparrow, a brown type of bird commonly found around the world? This bird could be beautiful but, It does not mean what it seem to be here. There is one connection here, word noisy, this bird must be one of those birds that make noise a lot. The moral of this quotation here, is when the a little boy have involved himself in certain unpleasant business such as drug dealer, when the boy become addicted to the drug, he become suspicious of guiltiness of being a drug dealer. He will no longer like to come home where he could be advise and he will never want to hear advise from people neither. The people that would give the advice are the singing birds he would no longer hear singing. I hope it make sense.

Insert beavis and butthead laugh.

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Challenge your beliefs, or your beliefs will challenge you.

Losing innocence is one of those things that happens before you know it. When you start to realize the scientific facts of the world, you lose the elements of wonder. There is something mystical, something musical in a bird's singing, and to one who does not know what it is, only the beauty can be heard. The moment we start to analyze the calls of "real life", we lose touch with those parts of us that are more childish.

Well, i think it means, don't really focus on the details of something beautiful, just enjoy the moment/ enjoy whatever it is.

Little kids eventually lose their magic to science.

"The moment a little boy is concerned with which is a jay and which is a sparrow, he can no longer see the birds or hear them sing."
Eric Berne (1910 - 1970)

Metaphorical...

Sometimes people can get wrapped up in "what" a person is and appearences. They focus so much on appearences that they lose the ability to see real truth or beauty.

I think it means something similar to this quote (which is one of my favourites, as someone with a Linguistics degree! )

"You must hear the bird's song
without attempting to render it into nouns and verbs."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

In other words, appreciate the beauty and wonder of things without over-analysing them. Another similar idea is:

'To disect something
First you have to kill it'
unknown

Damn you for explaining something better than I can. lol. Good job.

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My name is supposed to say Ayreon, with the E before the O. This is the name of my favorite band. The name Ayroen is just a typo.