đź“–The Book of Not Knowing

authors
Ralston, Peter
year
2010
tags

Enlightenment

  • Not knowing is a prerequisite for knowing

  • You can’t question anything if it is already known

  • #quote

    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

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