The paradoxical nature of ignorance.

 It was a true genius who said never to argue with stupid people, that they drag you down and beat you with experience. This is what I call the paradox of ignorance. It is an effectual stance in that it is irrefutable. No one can change the mind of one who is set on his course, even if the course is ultimately destruction. But let us not lay claim to the mind, for the mind is either a dust bin or a treasure trove , and that is the choice of the beholder. In this we have no need for fancy words like paradox. Indeed it is only in the complex interactions of men that we bear witness to the paradox of ignorance.

I was just reading again Ms. Popova. I was curious about her ability to write endlessly with so many links networking the way she does, curious if there is another in the Marginalian or if she is the Marginalian. Trying to find this out I looked back among articles and saw a title that caught my interest. Nick Cave on Music, Mystery, and the Relationship Between Vulnerability and Freedom. My mind did a double take on the vulnerability of freedom. As it has been my recent acknowledgement that the mind of a person who is determined to be free of the lash of his master is his slave. In order to be free, we must have courage, and be fully committed to the possibility of coming into conflict with those who are opposed to others living in beauty and light. A terror strikes at the hearts of the self inflicted victim, and they not knowing they are jealous and wounded, seek out with blood thirst those who have courage where they don't. This is displacement.

You can tell an ignorant man easily by the way he treats an innocent. What wounds he suffers he inflicts.

But this is not the most important thing I saw in this article. When I started to read it, with my usual critical eye which descends on things almost as thoroughly as this writer advances, I saw something even more profound. It was my Eureka! moment of this January, 12, 2023.

This was the statement that got me: “Whatever inspiration is,” the Polish poet Wisława Szymborska observed in her superb Nobel Prize acceptance speech, “it’s born from a continuous ‘I don’t know.’” And yet, with our reflex for teleological thinking — that childish grab at “I know!” 

As I have recently been trying to hold tight to my vision of things which I believe true, in a world where the odds of my being such an extraordinary person are beyond my comprehension, I must decide if I fall into one of the categories above. This is an example of the paradox of ignorance.

For he who is certain must know that they are able to be certain. BUT! Who will know that what they know is what they need to know? 

I was just reading Chinese proverbs. Somehow, I am always ready to celebrate the Chinese New Year. I am happy to do so as I love these people from afar, with their beautiful meditations, elegant physical fitnesses, worship at humble alters, discipline, multitudes, etc. One proverb has been right for my blog today- a good teacher is worth a thousand books.  

That we do not know what we do not know is a mystery which some leave out of their minds. That those who say "I do not know" learn and those who say "I know" do not is a great paradox. Who can make a claim on such a premise as this? But this is true in every sense. 

The great paradox of ignorance is the formidable law of mankind without his Gods.