Wise and otherwise

Thanks for those words Simpleton, simplicity and humbleness are truly above anything. Infact its just impossible for a normal person to spend his entire life in search of all the knowledge that he desires. Hence most our learning cannot and should not be self-based. We need the other person’s thoughts to stamp out our ignorace and let us to the path of truth.

We just know a drop in the ocean, but still our mind somehow blocks us in trying to think beyond this small drop. Ego, pride, arrogance are like the devils within our mind that keep blocking us from pursuing the truth. Its the virtue of humbleness that openes up our minds to new ideas, new thoughs, new relations. But sadly all we have is ME, ME, ME.

Two famous quotes by TS Elliot:
“”Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.””

“”We must never cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time.””

Personally I have learnt many things from the street vendor to my sister with whom I argue without sense ;) Interacting with people however illogical they are help me to somehow stamp out my arrogance/stupidity/ignorance/and what not out of my life.

But, do we really need to put our lives on the line in such a pursuit, by spending all our life in understanding things which still at our death bed remain a mystery. probably we need not take it so seriously. We shall learn as we lead our lives enjoying our time on this planet. We shall enjoy and play with our family, play with our dog, play with our friends. In the process we shall make life less difficult for each other. Who knows at the end of such a life we may have answered most of the questions that we intended to answer through serious debates.

Thanks Simpleton for your valuable time and for those wise words.
Those who know that they know everything know nothing..
Those who know that they know nothing know everything..

Much of my life has been spent in the pursuit of knowledge. The more I learn, the more I realise that there is simply too much for any one person to learn in a lifetime. I already know or meet every day people who know so much more than myself.
One of the biggest mistakes in my life has been to assume that I know more than my fellow man and a fall has often followed my pride. I would exchange huge amounts of my knowledge for the things that actually matter – friendship and love. Beauty is around us everywhere and can neither be quantified nor valued – every flower is unique, every smile irreplaceable, every star untouchable. Are these things not worth more than the combined knowledge of man put together?

Most people who seek knowledge “”specialise”” in particular area’s and to the rest of the world seem like experts. Each of them has only had a finite amount of time to “”focus”” their thoughts and efforts but still lack in other disciplines. Children can teach them things they did not know.

This is life – you have x amount of minutes, days, years. How will you use them? Would you spend them with your head in books and your mind struggling over equations while you are missing out on something so wonderful as a kiss? Would you be Gilgamesh? Would you seek immortality?

There is a story by Isaac Asimov called I think “”Eyes do more than see””. It was written many years ago and is dated but there is a moral to the story that we should all ponder. Read it if you get chance.

Good luck people – I’ve used about 10 minutes of my precious time throwing what little I could at your minds. I think I’ll spend what little is left of it doing something useful.

Now, where is my beautiful girlfriend – maybe I can make her smile. Or the flower that grows in my garden, defiant of my lack of knowledge of its DNA structure. Maybe I’ll cook and slowly savour every bite simply for the pleasure of its taste.

Slowly, simply, I shall seek to know nothing.

I still know nothing!

Great ones Simpleton, Thanks :)

Hi,

Harry must have attended an “”art of living”” class. :D

-Raja

By three methods
we may learn wisdom:
First, by reflection
which is noblest;
second by imitation.
which is easiest;
and third by experience,
which is bitterest.

– Confucius
Bearing this in mind, did you imitate the following?

“”They that know not, and know not that they know not, they are fools, shun them
They that know not, and know they know not, they are simple, teach them
They that know, and know not that they know, they are asleep, wake them
They that know, and know that they know, they are wise, follow them””

The knowledge of man will always be incomplete. Rather than talking about the attainment of knowledge, do you KNOW anything?

“”If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things””.
–Rene Descartes

“”To be blind is bad, but worse is to have eyes and not see””.

-Helen Keller

Here’s one from me…

Find within yourself the patience to know what is known, question that knowledge, see beyond the incomplete building blocks others have discovered, unify it. Is not the study of all things (chemistry, physics, genetics, astronomy, etc) simply the larger study of the basic indivisible constituents of the universe?

If you wish to focus your mind, your thoughts, then focus them with the knowledge that genius is earned, or it is fake!

The very words with which you think are something that you have learned. How can we expect to understand anything without first understanding what we do and do not know?

We can know that a huge number of things fail to work, but that knowledge can lead to knowing how they can. Thomas Edison is a perfect example.

I know nothing!

Very well said

I have only this much to say:

?Known is the drop and Unknown is the ocean?

Veronica
I think when a person really means it when he says that he didnt know it.. it can be treated as a reason and not an excuse :)
Yes, the horse comparison is so real!

Pavani
Yes you are absolutely right. a lot of of what we are and our moods depend on what we consume in terms of food, air, water, surroundings, friends, etc
Only real yogis can be independent of their surroundings.. which is why peace and calmness loving saints prefer ‘Satvik’ food, the food which does not create extreme emotions in your moods

adding to this ..i have once attended an yog class in which the instructor was telling we are wht v eat..the tots tht recurr in our mind are in a way related to the fud v intake..
a voilent person whose genetic composition dictates him to b very voilent(may bcause of absence of x chromose.linked to feminine sensitivity..) can be changed if he intakes certain type of diet..so the diet has the power to override most of our inherent charecteristics…may b there infact is some tonic when taken (as depicted in epics) will make our mind control our senses and take the riders seat..;-)

There are times when ignorance is a bliss, would you say ignorance can be used as a reason or an excuse. When someone say, sorry I did not know that. Is this reason or excuse?
I love the horse comparison, it is indeed so, yet the horse keeps running in past happenings even if it is just a minute ago or wildly running into fantasies about future things, places.

Harry

Yes you are right. People who knows that they don?t know- is the beginning of wisdom.

Thats what I meant when I said, “”People who know that there is also what they dont know””

Then, People who knows that they don?t know, but ALSO know that there is nothing else to know, are ignorant. They become wise, once they know that there are still things to be known :)

I think the normal stages for a person are usually that first he/she is ignorant, then becomes a fool, then becomes wise..

Yes, you are absolutely right, we have to take control and get into the driver’s seat :)
In Kannada there is saying which compares mind to an uncontrolled horse which keeps running mindlessly everywhere ..

The no-mind stage you mentioned is quite interesting! thinking about what I want to think next!! Great!
Yes, I have to try out the things you said, probably then one can tune oneself to put to use his thoughts/mind power 100%, once we are able to control the wandering uncontrolled nature of our thoughts..

thanks a lot for that :)

Hello Guru I love to read your articles, sometimes I am amazed at your knowledge and other times disappointed. Why the disappointment? You seem to be quite knowledgeable yet you seem not to have assimilated the knowledge into your being/ absorb the knowledge so that it becomes part of you. It all seems to be just brain/ mind stuff.

People who knows that they don?t know- is the beginning of wisdom.
Most wise men (if not all) have said: ?the more they know the less they know?.
Everything learned passes through these stages.
1) unconscious incompetent
2) conscious incompetent
3) conscious competent
4) unconscious competent.

You know very well, every answer gives birth to a question. I have concluded that you really love your brain or mind. But are these not just instruments which presently do not function as they should simply because you are not in control? Have these instruments not become the masters and you the slave? Do they not behave like runaway trains? You know better than I the % of the brain that is used. Is it not possible if we take the drivers seat that we can then access the whole brain? But how do we reclaim our kingdom/ take the drivers seat?
I read about the no-mind stage when the continuous chattering by the mind stops and have experienced just seconds of it. There is only silence. In the Power of Now one of the exercises is to ask yourself; ?what will my next thought be? and listen, right away there is a blank, not a single thought. Another exercise is to focus your attention into the body, your abdomen, chest etc. Don?t label what you feel. This can be upsetting or it can be peaceful. This morning I was feeling miserable and I listen / put my attention into my abdomen and my chest. The miserable feelings did a disappearing act. The mind has two modes 1) it is in the past or 2) it is in the future. Maybe if you try this you will achieve consciousness faster than I because you know a lot. To consciously keep my mind busy I repeat a mantra.

yes phani,
you are right. A person considered wise by some might be considered fool by others, which is why I did not talk about relative wisdom, but of absolute thought of a person..

if I think that I know everything, then its not others opinion, its my own, and in that sense I am a fool, because obviously I cant know everything :)

I think you got the line about equations wrong :) In that line I simply requested the universe to open up itself to those wise men who continuously try to think and understand the mysteries and nature of the universe.. like how a mathematician with great difficulty tries to solve a second order partial diff eq and finds approx solutions..

I think the human behaviour and even human duties are already completely explained in the ancient texts like bhagavadgita, vedas, upanishads, etc.. all we need is a modern terminology to explain it to a common man, and even that has been done by the great people like swami Vivekananda.

About human brain I am optimist that we will crack it, provided we look beyond the brain for the answers. Brain is just a physical means to facilitate memory and thoughts?! What we think to be the mystery of brain is probably actually the mystery of consciousness and awareness :)

hmmm… u need sleep man!! definitely!! i too try to think abt these things a lot.. its just that i dont find time to jot them down and blog them!! anywayz……

let me tell u my opinion – In this universe, there is no wise, fool or ignorant, one mans wisdom will be criticized by other, so wisdom cant be measured based on one or a group of persons perspective, so it cant be measured by even the second order equations, i believe we must look at some nth order…..

I always think the day we totally explain the human behaviour, we can attain the salvation enough to describe the universe(oops.. i should call it multiverse) and every thing associated with it…

human brain is the greatest mystery that perhaps will always remain hidden from us…