Honest Ignorance
In spite of appearing to know everything, mankind has miserably failed at knowing what they don’t really know. This is not something new, but has been around since the dawn of human civilization. Among the ordinaries, Socrates was an exceptional character with honest ignorance. When he tried to wake his subjects up to their ignorance, they didn’t take it well to their pride. And the rest is history. It is the worst form of knowledge one could ever possess—the miss knowledge.
Knowledge is the food for the soul. But there is a fine line of difference between knowledge and stupidity. Technological intelligence has overridden human wisdom today. With the information becoming ever more accessible with little to no cost at all, the value of real human knowledge and wisdom has degraded today. It is only a matter of seconds before you can walk up the stage and lecture about almost any topic without even knowing what it really is.
We think we know everything because we have access to every possible form of knowledge out there with a mere swipe of a finger. We rely more on the machine’s computational ability than our cognition and analysis. No wonder, we know so much about so many things but still clueless regarding what to do with all that knowledge. Smart technology has rendered mankind dumber. We have stopped asking questions because we think we have all the answers. We mistake the machine’s intelligence with our knowledge and take everything for granted. We walk and talk as if we are knowledgeable experts while not knowing the fact that we know nothing.
Socrates likes to keep the idea of philosophy as simple as possible. Socratism is an art of asking questions that assumes honest ignorance. Perhaps, Socrates’ greatest contribution to the philosophical inquiry is his idea of ignorance. This is his wisdom‒the wisdom of honest ignorance rather than a false sense of knowing. The true purpose of knowledge and wisdom is to make one’s life better. But it seems like we are stuffing ourselves with the wrong form of knowledge. No wonder we are making our lives more miserable. Yet we are so busy devouring narrow and spurious knowledge that we have turned ourselves into the generation of idiots. Task failed successfully!
How to achieve Honest Ignorance?
An old axiom goes by as “honesty is the greatest virtue”. Add ignorance to that, and you shall have the key to the greatest form of wisdom: Honest Ignorance.
The first step to realise one’s own ignorance is to be aware of our false sense of knowledge. This is easier said than done because technology does much of the thinking for us today. It takes immense courage and wisdom to admit one’s own ignorance. Becoming aware of our own ignorance can be a long and difficult process. But we cannot become free from the false sense of knowledge without realizing that we actually don’t know.
Honest ignorance demands patience and willingness to accept one’s ignorance and doubt. It is not some journey that can be rushed. And the path to honest ignorance isn’t going to be all happy go lucky. To quote Oscar Wilde, “Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities”. Here, ridicule is the price you may have to pay for wisdom. Socrates paid for it with his life.
No illumination without humiliation!
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