8/31/20
A new day, a new week,
*How much do I know*?
The answer that has kept me grounded is that I know nothing.
In his book, The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning, physicist Marcelo Gleiser writes this –
“Consider, then, the sum total of our accumulated knowledge as constituting an island, which I call the Island of Knowledge. A vast ocean surrounds the Island of Knowledge, the unexplored ocean of the unknown, hiding countless tantalizing mysteries.
As the Island of Knowledge grows, so do the shores of our ignorance—the boundary between the known and unknown. Learning more about the world doesn’t lead to a point closer to a final destination — whose existence is nothing but a hopeful assumption anyways — but to more questions and mysteries.”
The more we know, the more exposed we are to our ignorance, and the more we know to ask.
Dutch philosopher Spinoza suggested that wisdom is seeing things ‘sub specie aeternitatis,’ that is, ‘in view of eternity.’
A fundamental principle of wisdom is to have a long-term perspective, to see the big picture, to look beyond the immediate situation – to have a long-term perspective,
to see the big picture,
and to look beyond the immediate situation.
This too shall pass,
Wisdom requires humility.
Start with the assumption that you know nothing, and then you must be teachable. Keep learning & stay blessed forever.