There’s the existence.
Existence which you were burdened with.
Existence and the problems of existence.
All problems are problems of existence.
Your “petty” quotidian problems are still problems of existence
(or rather, those are the real problems of existence)
You solve problems,
You solve problems and learn,
You solve problems and learn and thus acquire knowledge,
acquire WISDOM.
When you can’t solve your problem you turn to others,
“perhaps they’ve dealt with this nonsense”
you turn to priests and philosophers,
you turn to coaches and gurus,
you turn to experts and professors,
you turn to idols and success-stories…
and it’s great,
and you’re an idiot if you don’t,
do you want to solve the problem — or do you just want to cry?
if you could solve ALL YOUR PROBLEMS with the help of others — does that external contribution diminish the results you’ve acquired?
if you could solve your money-problems and family-problems and happiness-problems and lifestyle-problems and love-problems and health-problems and sex-problems and EXISTENTIAL-PROBLEMS…
does the fact that you reached out for help diminish the end result, at the end?
NO
YES
…both.
What someone DID do — chances are he knows how to do it.
Chances are he doesn’t.
It’s a major problem these days — people thinking they understand what made them succeed,
Can you explain in detail, from the physics point of view and mechanical point of view, how you’re so successful at WALKING on TWO LEGS?
you get the point.
that’s the first problem with learning from others — often there’s fuck all to learn; They DON’T KNOW that they DON’T KNOW.
Then there’s…
“What someone DID do — chances are he knows how to do it…”
…especially if it’s a straight-forward, technical problem!
…If the experiments are very replicable,
if there are VERY probable foundations: not some vague, plausible-sounding nonsense, but actual FACTS — accurate 99.9% of time or something,
THAT’S the kind of stuff you can learn from others.
That is what we actually call “knowledge”,
Something that has been proved.
Not some dumb observation by another expert, not some dumb theory.
What we call “theory” these days has very little to do with what Theory is.
According to WIKIPEDIA (”Theory”)
“In modern science, the term “theory” refers to scientific theories, a well-confirmed type of explanation of nature, made in a way consistent with scientific method, and fulfilling the criteria required by modern science.
What we call “theory” is usually impossible to be empirically tested. You can’t put it in a laboratory, you can’t replicate the same circumstances.
And that’s life!
And it’s ok.
We work with incomplete information and UTTER CHAOS.
The only problem is when we think we know more then we do
We know fuck all.
Finally there’s the third problem… which is actually the greatest.
It’s the knowledge accumulation.
It’s the knowledge thirst.
It is us seeking completion in knowledge.
It is us seeking power in knowledge, truth in knowledge, deliverance in knowledge, redemption in knowledge, fulfilment in knowledge.
It’s us seeking certainty in knowledge,
EXISTENTIAL CERTAINTY,
and all that, all that is ultimately just utter delusion.
Whatever you shall put into your head
it won’t save you.
However noble the CONTENTS OF YOUR HEAD shall become,
it won’t save you.
Not in your next journey
not even in this journey.
And let’s talk about this journey,
You solve problems and learn and thus acquire knowledge,
acquire WISDOM.
Wisdom is what you acquired by “solving problems”, and what you rely on when facing new challenges.
And again, this is of tremendous benefit when faced with “replicable experiment”, a similar problem with similar solutions.
It is not so beneficial when facing a new problem.
It often is! Don’t get me wrong.
But the further we move from the technical, the quotidian, the mundande, the worldly, the trivial,
towards the existential, the transcendental, the abstract, the NEW, the unknown, the unmeasurable…
the more knowledge becomes a burden.
I’m not even making this up, it’s called EINSTELLUNG EFFECT,
Although I suppose it’s even more severe then that, this BURDEN OF KNOWLEDGE.
Finally, the ultimate perversion is when we ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE BEFORE WE’VE ENCOUNTERED A PROBLEM,
I call it WISDOM PERVERSION
I wrote about it before and consider this very text continuation of this idea.
To place wisdom before your own experience, your own existence, is to place idea before the reality: the pinnacle of human mind’s delusion.
On high level of thought: it leads to “philosophy”; Shockingly useless, abstract, theoretical, in much of it’s fruits.
On low level it leads to PROSTITUTING wisdom: cheap self-help books, one-size-fits-all solutions, articles in newspapers full of great advice, and obviously, today, SOCIAL MEDIA.
I suppose the last doesn’t come as a surprise: social media manages to prostitute everything;
This is evil,
I used to think it’s innocent,
I obviously don’t believe there’s a precondition for being a thinker,
But this is not “thought”,
This is pure self-delusion,
and sales.
You don’t want to pursue “wisdom”.
You want to pursue the good life,
The truth,
Individual truth. “Individual”, because it can’t be borrowed, and can’t depend on the contribution of others.
It can’t depend on any condition — or else it would be impossible to acquire. What kind of truth is that?
You can’t BORROW wisdom in advance,
You can’t COMPLETE this undertaking of becoming wise beforehand,
You can’t SEPARATE wisdom from your own existence, from your own experience, from the individual,
When you do — it’s no longer wisdom; It’s just some sweet nonsense.
And you shut the door for the true insights.
You have the thought-terminating-cliche for every situation.
You now truly know nothing.
To wrap it up,
Just because he DID IT doesn’t mean he knows how to do it again,
Just because it’s a good-sounding theory doesn’t mean there’s anything true about it,
then, just because you PUT A LOT OF STUFF into your head — doesn’t mean you’re better off,
and it often HINDERS you when encountering new problems,
and then, finally, when you make this ideal of being-wise — you have completed your delusion — and forlorn your last hope for ever learning something, in this life.
Go!!
Go into the world,
Do things,
Get real problems,
Seek solutions,
TRY solutions of others,
See if they work,
Try something else,
Don’t say that you “know”,
You never really know!! Scio me nihil scire!!
Go and live life first,
learn along the way,
EXPLORE,
don’t be stupid! Be intelligent!
LEARN from your mistakes,
Learn all you can and still know that you’re stupid! That you know nothing!
And
it may just work.
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