"We think we know, that is our tragedy; so we never discover." ~ Anthony DeMello
Almost all failures of mankind, from the smallest to the biggest, are rooted in ignorance: arguments about politics on social media, personal finance mistakes, failed relationships, and war.
This is because ignorance is at the root of the most destructive of behaviors and emotions, such as selfishness, arrogance, hubris, fear, greed and hate.
But the mere recognition of the prevalence and negative symptoms of ignorance in the world does not quite go far enough to cure the disease of ignorance.
The cure begins with recognizing ignorance at the individual level -- with the awareness that you are both a part of the problem and the solution.
And once the illusion and superficiality of ignorance is removed, the reality of awareness and the depth of truth begin to emerge.
"The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." ~ William Shakespeare
I am confident that all of the world's problems and challenges, whether they be personal, inter-personal, national, or international, begin with each human being as an individual.
For this reason, among others, a prevailing theme in my forthcoming book, which I am confident will be finally published in 2016, is centered around self-knowledge. And the foundation of self-knowledge, for the wise person, is the awareness of one's own ignorance.
Here is an unedited excerpt from my soon-to-be published book. It is a hypothetical dialogue between Sage and Student, and it has a personal and timely message:
Sage: Do you know yourself?
Student: Of course I know myself. Are you joking?
Sage: How do you know that you know yourself? And no, I’m not joking.
Student: I know my name, I know my home address, I know my Social Security number, I know where I was born, I know where I went to school, I know my favorite things, and I know what I have done in the past.
Sage: You know things about yourself and you can recall your personal experiences, which are all respective aspects of what I call Knowing and Acting. But are these the same as who you are, which is your Being?
Student: Yes, these things are all part of who I am. They all made me into the person I am today.
Sage: What if the person you are today is not the real you?
Student: That’s a strange thought. What do you mean?
Sage: Imagine you discovered today that you were adopted at birth and that you were actually born to a family in a distant country with different value systems than yours today. Would that make you a different person? How would you feel upon discovering this truth?
Student: That’s difficult to imagine. But if I discovered I was adopted and my birth parents had different beliefs and value systems than the person I am today, I guess I might be confused about who I am.
Sage: Why do you think that?
Student: Because what I thought I knew would no longer be the truth; and that would change what I think about who I am now.
Sage: So you think that being raised by a different family in a different country with different values would make you a different person?
Student: Yes, of course I would be different because I would be more like my birth parents and less like my adoptive parents.
Sage: What if your real parents were radical extremists, blinded by ignorance, hate, and fear, and they existed to plot the murder of innocent people — people like the current you and your adoptive parents — just because you thought differently than them?
Student: Oh no, I would never be like that!
Sage: Why not?
Student: Because ignorance is foolish; hate and fear are destructive emotions; and it is wrong to kill innocent people. I would never act like that!
Sage: Are you saying that what a person knows and how a person acts may be a deception — that who they think they are may just be a part of a person’s conditioning and programming from outside sources, and therefore this external identity is not reflective of the authentic Self?
Student: Yes, I believe that is what I am saying.
Sage: And so, although you fortunately see the world very differently than a radical extremist, how do you know that your current worldview is truthful and accurate?
Student: I suppose I don’t really know for sure.
Sage: So I repeat the question: Do you know yourself?
Student: (after a long pause) I don’t know.
Sage: And so, by simply recognizing your ignorance, you have taken a real step toward mastery of life...
And so, dear reader, do you know your Self? Put differently, to what degree do your adopted beliefs and values influence your thoughts and behaviors? If you are a product of your environment, how do you know that your environment is a complete reflection of reality?
If you ever answer a question with the words, "I don't know," you are on the path to wisdom. If not, think again...
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I realized how ignorant I was when discovering that, my parents, after winning the lottery in 1998 and becoming instantly rich, only to become bankrupt 4 years later, were part of a statistic which said that 19 out of 20 lottery winners will not only lose all their winnings, but will actually lose more than what they won.
As shocking as this statistic was for me, it only became more shocking and revealing when I then discovered that the same statistics hold true for the number of people who will retire with insufficient funds, and the number of businesses that will ultimately fail. It was obvious to me that these statistics were not a co-incidence and so from that moment my whole perspective on life changed and I was determined to seek out not only the reasons for this shocking fact about money, but if there was a way to become one of the 5%
This led me down a path of learning anything and everything I could about business, finance, economics, success etc, which inevitably led me down a path of psychology, emotional intelligence and so forth. However, after a while, and with mixed successes something changed me completely, and it was when I posed a quesiton to myself 'what would all those volunteers, charity workers, religious preachers etc of this world do if all of a sudden everyone in the world had all their needs met?'
This was a naive question but it shattered almost everything I had worked on up to that point. Immeditaley my focus became seeking a deeper truth about life and what my purpose really was and I ended up formulating my purpose into one goal 'to rebut the often parroted term that it is a fact of life we need money'. I do not know if people who make this comment mean it to be a fact of life that money must always exist, or that it is a fact of life that every person in the world will have to accept that their only means of survival is to deal in money and accept all the principles it rests on, and that if they choose not to do so they will starve.
This led me down a path of religion, philosophy, law, politics, history, and just about anything and everything I could get my hands on, and it has been both extremely and emotionally painful and disturbing on the one hand, and liberating on the other, as the layers of the onion have been slowly peeled away day by day.
Although I do not at this point live 'without' money, I do see a light at the end of the tunnel, at least I hope I do, which suggests that there is a way for an individual or family to co-exist alongside everyone else and lead a very fruitful and productive life that does not involve money at least not on their part, but which still contributes to society, but more importanlty, does not come at the expense of basic human needs (or rights). I cannot explain the model in detail very well because it always seems to challenge core beliefs and become unimaginable to the person I am explaining it to (I have attempted to explain it to economists, religious leaders, lawyers, aboriginal activists, politicians, around the world who all shared one thing in common, a strong desire for change in the world due to their perception that the world suffers from too much inequality, and with the exception of one barrister who finally understood my model and could see no legal, economic, religiuous or moral reason against it, none of these other people have understood it because at some point their beleif system did not allow it to penetrate any further); but what I can offer is an answer to your question from another article on this website which was 'What is your definition of rich?'
To this I answer, my defintion of rich is to be able to hold every present and future resource, both internal and external, whether that be the fruits of my labours or mind, or tangible resources, in trust for the community as a whole, so that whilst I occupy or possess the resource merely as a utility, the community as a whole owns all beneficial interest in these resources, and upon my death all possession will revert back to the government (the community). This means, I possess a house, land, wheelbarrow, chickens, hammer, clothing, and any other resource for which would be required to meet basic human needs of my family, including education, energy, and food until such time as I can become self-sufficent, as a trustee, and the beneficiary is the community as a whole. It is holding resources in trust so that no exploitation for monetary gains is possible, but rather to make those resources productive purely on the basis for what they were designed for, for example, a house for privacy, shelter, educaiton, worship (if your religiously inclined) etc, and not for the purpose of capital appreciation or income - chickens to produce eggs for consumption, and not for commercial means. Under such a trust, it would be a breach of both trust law and the commandments, if I then took any of those resources, including my labours, and sold, leased, or otherwise dealt in money or engaged in the formation of any legal relations, contracts, or agreements that created choses in action. In fact, by operation of law, it would be impossible to even convert any resource into money for the community would then become both debtor and creditor of the same item, i.e. the money. An ability to live, not under the legal relations of debtor/creditor which require private property ownership and which burden government, but under a mutual trust with the government as the representative of the community (the beneficiaries) where property ownership (i.e. the right to exploit for monetary gain) is not essential to my well-being. It is hoped my children will follow in my footsteps by way of knowledge, and as such, there will be no need to pass down property - hence, what reason do I have to own property. That is my definition of rich.
Posted by: Dean | May 01, 2016 at 02:23 AM
Dean,
Thanks for the thoughtful comment! I will reply when I have more time to read it, reflect, and respond in kind.
Kent
Posted by: Kent Thune | May 02, 2016 at 12:59 PM