There is one intellectual fact that each of us share the burden of coping with every single day:  “We Never Know What We Do Not Know.”

We can probably agree that we can’t know everything — but where do we draw the line between not knowing something and deciding we don’t need to know?  Is there a danger in asking?  Is there a punishment for wondering?

When we choose not to know, are we censoring the truth?  If we have a sense that knowing will anger or upset us, do we use ignoring as a defense mechanism from feeling the winding truth?

If we decide we are morally bound to know as much as possible — how do we handle that unquenchable thirst that can never be slaked?  Knowledge must sustain us without drowning us in the bitted details.

I cogent life requires making informed decisions on inadequate evidence and that conundrum of living is precisely where we get into trouble.  We think we know what we know when we really know nothing at all.

Is the wiser path to say, “I don’t know” or “Let me find out?”  If you choose to find out, how can you trust the potency of what you hope to reference?  Can it be that we know nothing at all except a few clues to questions we can never really answer?

The acquisition of knowing is the most important task we must complete every single day.  There is always something new to learn and then share.  We cannot live by rote.  We must not die in details.  When we share important things and not trivial meanderings, we raise the stake of thought in our culture and that enhances all our chances of making it forward into another day.  To just live without knowing something new is the height of danger and pretentiousness because what you don’t know really can kill you.

4 Comments

  1. ANNE – I live and teach on the upper West Coast of the United States. My interests are Philosophy, English, and Social Communication.
    anne says:

    The photo threw me at first til I figured it out. We should keep on learning and trying to grow. To not do so is to atrophy and die.

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      That’s right, Anne. It is up to us to keep the mind alive and the body will follow.

  2. Most days I’m dissatisfied unless I can say that I’ve actually learned something. I search it out every day because it won’t seek me!

    1. David Boles – New York City – David Boles was born in Nebraska and holds an MFA from the Oscar Hammerstein II Center for Theatre Studies at Columbia University in the City of New York. He is an author, dramatist, editor, publisher, and teacher who writes across the live stage, print, radio, television, film, and the web. With more than 50 books in print, David continues to write 2MM words a year and has authored over 25K articles. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, the Authors Guild, and PEN America, and founded The United Stage advocacy platform on the principle that playwrights have a duty to direct their own work. Read the Prairie Voice Archive at Boles.com | Buy his books at David Boles Books Writing & Publishing at BolesBooks.com | Study with Script Professor at ScriptProfessor.com | Touch American Sign Language mastery at Hardcore ASL at HardcoreASL.com | Explore the Human Meme podcast at HumanMeme.com | Train with Boles Bells at BolesBells.com.
      David W. Boles says:

      That’s a good misson. Finding something new is always a joy.

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