đź“–The Book of Not Knowing
- authors
- Ralston, Peter
- year
- 2010
- tags
- Not knowing is a prerequisite for knowing
- You can’t question anything if it is already known
The only Zen you find on mountaintops is the Zen you bring up there. —Robert M. Pirsig
- Possibility and limitation are two sides of the same coin. If something is possible, it is only possible if limitations are overcome.
- We can have a self-image but not identify with it.
- We build self-image as a survival mechanism. We notice things about ourselves and than make them a part of ourselves (i.e., start defending them)
- Everything we perceive is subject to filtering by our beliefs and assumptions. Simply to get into conciousness, a thing must past these filters.
- Our assumptions and beliefs represent simply as truth. Thus, preventing the state of not-knowing and further investigation and discoveries
- In our culture, we name things that are of interest to us. That’s probably why we don’t have a name for not-knowing—a state that precedes the knowing. (Language)
- As childs, we are praised for knowing and punished for not knowing. We grow afraid of admitting we don’t know something even to ourselves.
- We want to appear as knowledgeable as we can, hiding the limits of our understanding.
- “Knowledge is power”—one of the commonly acceptable truisms. And we assume that not knowing must signify weakness
- A “lone wolf” is much more common symbol than the sheep
Backlinks
- đź“ť Contemplation