Soulful Sundays: Unknown

“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.” — Voltaire

The paradox of knowledge is that the more we learn, the more we become aware of the depth of our ignorance. The inverse holds true as well. The less we know about something, the more open we can be to its true nature. The classic example of this paradox is the fable of the emperor’s new clothes. Expertise is useful but the blade of specialization can cut both ways. Perhaps it is possible to know too much—too much of the wrong thing.

The combined forces of Internet search engines and artificial intelligence have all but closed the door on factual ignorance. Not a one among us has not benefited from this technology in expanding, at least temporarily, our knowledge base. We have questions, “it” has answers. This is how we designed it. Certainty at our fingertips. The democratization of expertise. But, counter to logic, more information has somehow created more insecurity, not less. More anxious thoughts, not fewer. The issue rests not in the machine’s inability to deal with the unknown, but in our own.

Wanting to know is programmed into our DNA. We are the species that saw an expanse of water and wondered what lay beyond. That made tools out of mud and stones. But, this is the same brain that evolved looking up at a night sky that no modern person will ever see—transfixed by wonder and magic. We are at a critical place in our evolution where we must simultaneously look forward and backwards for direction. By elevating our power to the status of gods we are no longer permitted to feign ignorance. Becoming wise will include surrendering some answers back to the unknown and learning how to actually see again.