Sunday Musings: I Don't Have a CLUE What I'm Doing!
On my wanderings through life, I've noticed that one of the hardest things for us humans to admit is that we simply "don't know" something.
I'm not talking about obvious esoterica like "what's the cube root of 612?" or "what are the principles of molecular entropy?" but the daily stuff of life.
OPENLY Not Knowing
Poppy and grass...
We tend to present a bold public facade of having our life "together," because that seems to be what is expected of us. OF COURSE we "know" what we'd do if the car breaks down in the middle of the desert. OF COURSE we know how to invest for our retirement. OF COURSE we know how to program our new smartphone...
Whether we actually do, or not...
I've never been particularly attached to "knowing" things, or to what my "knowing" or "not knowing" any one thing conveys in terms of a message to the greater world. I watch friends and colleagues frantically search for answers on everything from how to work their iPhone to where is the proof of God... and I just can't "get there."
And I have also come to see that many of the questions we pose-- and which some actually lose sleep over-- are essentially unanswerable.
And maybe that is as it should be.
"Not Knowing" Doesn't Mean Not Curious
I do realize that it's part of human nature to be curious about the world around us... but in many instances, I also understand-- and even embrace-- that I am just not that ambitious.
Sometimes a change in direction is pretty obvious...
In a sense, I have made peace with "Not Knowing."
Which isn't to say that I am some intellectual slacker who simply doesn't give a shit about the world and the people in it... it simply says that I am not going to sweat it, and the fact that I don't "have the answers" to a bunch of life's mysteries... isn't going to affect my ability to sleep tonight. I still enjoy discussing and exploring these things.
I don't remember who it was that said "It is better to travel well than to arrive," but that quote has long made a lot of sense to me.
I do understand that there's an attendant fear many feel if they might get caught "not knowing." The fear is that-- somehow-- if we "don't know," we won't "get ahead" in life. But that leads me to the follow-up question of "get ahead of WHAT, exactly?" and then the next follow-up question..."If you do get ahead, what exactly will you HAVE, then?"
What do YOU think? Are you OK with "not knowing" things, or does that make you nervous and send you searching for the nearest answer? Or have you made peace with not knowing? Or are you not even sure what I'm talking about here... a different kind of "not knowing?" Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit)
Posted 20170709 13:04 PDT
Great piece of humility shared with us here, thanks a lot, I have deep respect for people being able to admit such a thing as not knowing, but even more so for someone having had the realization that "knowing" can only be left between parenthesis, not unlike Descartes that way and an infinite amount of reasons to do so. ;)
Namaste :)
Thanks @eric-boucher... frankly, I think it would be good for a lot of people's mental (and physical-- lower blood pressure!) health to just embrace this idea and chill out... probably not going to happen, but just tossing the idea out there, anyway.
Always happy to see one of your comments!
I hear you when it comes to relaxing. Apparently, from what I am being told by my close friends, I am a master at relaxing, when the time is ripe... Finding the right balance for any given time is my dance and as long as I still dance with life's rounds, a.k.a. samsara, I find myself toward the center of my being, grounded and calm, even in the eye of the storms raging around me every so often.
Thanks for the kind words and reply, namaste :)
Your post makes perfect sense to me @denmarkguy
I'm more than OK with not knowing things, on a regular (almost daily) basis, I will ask the "dumb" question that others usually won't ask. I've gotten to a point in my life where I'm not so concerned what others think of me. They aren't the ones who will have to live with the consequences of my ignorance.
In today's world where technology advances at such a breakneck speed, who COULD keep up?
You said quite a bit, there! It's almost impossible to keep up with the speed of life these days... and I am really OK with it. So much information is irrelevant anyway... at least to me. But I know a lot of people who are "slightly horrified" that I can't name 95% of the celebrities in People Magazine.
But I really don't give a flying flip.
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Thanks-- pretty funny; I can relate.
For the sake of simplicity I will argue that there are two types of 'people' in the world. Those that are experts in their field and those that are generalists. In my opinion most of the experts are too involved with the minutia of their own interests and field of expertise to be able to properly connect their knowledge to the wider world and other fields which if they did, might allow for the answering of some of the questions that we seek the answers to. The generalists know a little bit about a lot of things so are more able to make connections but less able to understand them fully.
Or that could just be a hollow, cut and paste answer.
As the father of a young son it is my intention that where I can I will always answer his questions with ''I don't know! Let's go find out ourselves!''. :)
Thanks for another excellent post @denmarkguy!
What you is-- as far as I can tell-- generally true, @tonyr.
I mean, we even see it here in this microcosm known as Steemit... I read their posts and you'd think the world begins, lives and ends with "blockchain." Sure, it's a nifty piece of tech... but there's more to life than just a mathematical algorithm.... isn't there?
I tend to tell people that I know "just enough about most things to be dangerous."
For me, the nice aspect of "not knowing" is the invitation to go learn something... if it truly matters to you. As it seems you're doing with your son.
I say the same thing except it ends with ''to myself'' :)
I have in mind a way of bringing up my son to be a good, decent and honest man but like every other parent, I have to accept that my way might not be the right way and I probably won't know if it is the right way or not for a good while yet. :)
Our knowing of something can quickly lead us down a rabbit hole where we eventually realize that we don't know anything.
Being able to admit that you don't know takes lots of courage and humility. It requires a certain of life experience to be able to care less about what others may think of you and the social stigma attached to it.
You're exactly right! I'll start studying something... only to discover how much there is to know about that thing... and then I realize I actually know even less than I thought I knew before I tried to know more!
Not knowing is main problem with us, we dont want to know anything which we have to know..we just trying to close eyes from reality
Well, yes... we don't want to know what we have to know and ought to know... and we know lots of stuff that's absolutely irrelevant. Conundrum, no?
Thanks alot for this post. Hoses 4:6 comes to mind
You're welcome... glad you enjoyed it.
Lovely article :)
Thank you!
That's a great looking colour mate. Cheers mike
Thanks...
Well said, I've talked about similar things in some of my posts. We should be curious, doubt and ask questions, but in doing so we create gaps, holes, voids, abysses and darkness in our comprehension due to not having an answer. That abyss is chaos, the unknown uncharted. The void in comprehension has fear to it, discomfort, insecurity, anxiety. We often fill in the gaps with a imagined idea, a belief. Then we feel secure and comfortable having our nice and even worldview or whatnot having no holes in it, at least according to out desire to believe whatever fills the gap created by a question. That's how I've described it before hehe.
Sometimes as you say, there is no answer. But, that doesn't stop many from adopting beliefs to fill in the gaps of the unknown.
There is also the fear of not admitting wrong, or else we appear less capable and lose a form of prestige or part of our social status.