Wisdom is Not Knowing.

January 24, 2020

Socrates wrote, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” Well, that may be taking it a little far, but there’s no doubt the older I get, the less I seem to know...and it’s not due to failing memory.

Psychologist R.D. Laing offers this mind-twister that every young smarty pants should read before joining one of the world’s tech giants. The fact is, we should all read it. The lesson is clear. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room. Be the wisest.

There is something I don’t know
that I am supposed to know.
I don’t know what it is I don’t know
and yet am supposed to know,
and I feel I look stupid
if I seem both not to know it
and not know what it is I don’t know.
Therefore, I pretend I know it.

This is nerve-racking
since I don’t know what I must pretend to know.
Therefore I pretend to know everything.

I feel you know what I’m supposed to know
but you can’t tell me what it is
because you don’t know
that I don’t know what it is.

You may know what I don’t know,
but not that I don’t know it,
and I can’t tell you.
So you will
have to
tell me
Everything.