The Financial Philosopher

Ignorance: The World's Invisible Enemy

"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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Related: What Do You Look Like Under Your Mask?

The Tragedy of Thinking That We Know

Inscribed above the entrance of the ancient Greek temple of Apollo Delphi, site of the sacred Oracle, are the words “Gnothi Seauton”, which translates to Know Thyself. The ancient Greeks and many of the greatest thinkers and philosophers before and after their time taught this lesson: There is no greater knowledge than that of the Self. However human nature is such that knowledge of things outside of the Self—worldly things—is the unfortunate preference.

For mastery of life, you must acquire mastery of Self. An important part of this mastery is to distinguish between knowledge that is helpful and knowledge that is potentially harmful. What do you know and how do you know it? More importantly, what do you not know?

Think of all the knowledge you have obtained to this present day. Where did it come from? What you “know” predominately comes from sources other than you: Your knowledge has come from parents, friends, schools, television, the Internet, and any other information source from which you have received messages. These are sources that tell you, either implicitly or explicitly, what you should be and how you should act.

Truth can be 'created' by the repetition of a lie

Information, truth, and knowledge do not share the same meaning. For example, you may think that you know yourself but how much of this knowledge came from sources other than your Self? And much of this knowledge is just information--it consists of descriptions, labels that point at you but they are not you. Can you see this?

The great 20th century spiritual leader and psychotherapist, Anthony De Mello, said, "We think we know, that is our tragedy; so we never discover." This is similar to the teachings of Socrates, who taught that wisdom is the awareness of one’s own ignorance. And we also find overlap with Lau Tzu’s Taoist teaching from the Tao Te Ching: "One who knows does not speak; one who speaks does not know." This wisdom touches upon the folly of making predictions based upon what we know (or rather what we think we know).

Perhaps Shakespeare draws the most succinct distinction between knowledge and wisdom best: "The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." And thus we have a lesson for mastery of life: Knowledge is a wonderful tool that can be used to navigate the outer world; however the greatest knowledge for your own mastery of life is of the inner world, which begins with the awareness that there are things that you do not know about your Self. 

The tragedy of knowledge is thinking that we know...

This post is an unedited excerpt from my forthcoming book to be publishded later this year. Stay tuned...

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Related: The Wisdom of the Empty Bucket

The Key to Success in Anything You Do...

Be who you are....

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