Being in the “I Don’t Know.”
Posted in Ambiguity, Beliefs, Change, Curiosity, Future, I Don't Know, One minute unlearning, Paradox, Quotes, The Way We See the Problem, Unlearning Lesson, Wisdom
Everybody likes to be “in the know.” The problem with this is that it’s an impossible goal to achieve because knowledge is being created at an ever accelerating rate.
This knowledge creation is a wonderful thing but it also implies that our ignorance is growing even faster (in the sense that it is impossible to stay atop of all the latest breakthroughs and discoveries.)
This is a discomforting situation. After all, who amongst us, likes to admit to our ignorance? I know I don’t.
Paradoxically, however, if you wish to succeed in the future, one strategy is to acknowledge that you are not “in the know” but, rather, “in the I don’t know.”
By admitting you don’t (and can’t) know everything, you are likely to remain more open to the idea that some new knowledge will render your existing knowledge obsolete.
In other words, keeping an open mind is the best defense against intellectual arrogance and “being in the know.”
As Voltaire said many, many years ago, “Doubt is an unpleasant condition but certainty is absurd.”
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