Friday, October 14, 2005

K n o w F e a r

It is a question as old as time itself.

What do I know ?

It is futile to search for the answer. But the one who finds the answer is the one who finds enlightenment - the one who knows what he knows and what he does not know.

This question is the root of all wisdom. So the humble always remember that they do not know. Humility is the key to knowledge. But it is not the path to wisdom.

The path lies here. Know fear.

The one who knows fear is the one who knows what he knows.

6 comments:

agastyabhrata said...

hi kiran

Constantly reminding oneself of this truth really helps. I came across this website when I was searching from some other things - may have seen it earlier, yet it's worth seeing again :), click here

Ray Lightning said...

thanks for the link pranav.

However, the best way of knowing fear is not through reading. It is through accepting a challenge.

Rajan said...

Hehe

Did not quite understand the post, but still lte me chip in with a few of my thoughts.

I am not sure(heard) that this is an age old question, atleast I have never asked this question so far.

IMHO the question that is root of wisdom is "What is truth ?" (In a way you can phrase it is what is that I don't know)

So it is actually that the learned know that they know a little and strive to know all that they don't know.
There is a couplet in Tamil by said by Avvayar ( knowledgable ) it essentialy means "What I know is just a handful & what I don't know is this entire world size"
so it is embraement of this fact and search for the not known is a more important facet.


I would say that there is a correlation between humility, knowing fear & knowing what you know. But those does not mean one implies anothers.

Stats 101
X & Y are correlated does not imply X => Y or Y => X

It could also be case that some Z => X and Z => Y

:-)

Ray Lightning said...

Hi Rajan
The question what do I know is equivalent to the question who am I

This is a more fundamental question than trying to understand what is truth

Because at a core level, nothing else can be investigated by the mind except the mind itself.

Humility is a harbinger of more knowledge. But this does not necessarily qualify a better understanding of how much you know what you know . To achieve this, you have to know fear. Fear is the instinct that wakes up the mind.

My views are a little influenced by Karl Popper (who maintains that truth can never be understood in its totality) and also by Indian philosophers (who say truth is always debatable)

quartyc said...

One who knows not, he knows not, is a fool, leave/avoid him.
one who knows not, he knows, is asleep, wake him up,
one who knows, he knows not,is thirsty, quench,
one who knows, he knows is devine, follow him...
one of the memorable lessons I learnt in my school days!!
hope this went in sync...

Ray Lightning said...

thanks for the comment :) very lovely.