Anne Schaef Quotations

Since the White Male System/Addictive System defines itself as reality, everything else is unreal by definition. Since its referent is the external referent, the internal referent is unreal and nonexistent by definition. The process of invalidating that which the system does not know, understand, cannot measure, and cannot thereby control is so extreme that large areas of perception and knowledge are lost. We give the system the power to make the known unknown.

Most women have had the experience of being in a group of men, saying something absolutely profound, and getting no response at all, only to hear one of the men say the same thing a few minutes later and be immediately acknowledged as brilliant. The woman (who has been made invisible or nonexistent) starts to wonder what she did wrong, or what is wrong with her, and she says little or nothing from that point on (which may be the expected, hoped-for response).

It is possible to be different and still be all right. There can be two -- or more -- answers to the same question, and all can be right.

As I open myself to questions being posed by those from other systems, I gain perspective on how many of my beliefs are system based.

A chuckle a day may not keep the doctor away, but it sure does make those times in life's waiting room a little more bearable.