Do you want to know everything?

by John Doe 32 Replies latest jw friends

  • John Doe
    John Doe

    Humans seem to have a need to make sense of and explain things. As such, religions and other unprovable ideas fill a needed gap in the human experience--that of the desire to know why we're here and where we came from. But, have you ever stopped and wondered if we are better off knowing everything?

    Such a question is to me quite interesting. I'm a firm believer that the pursuit of knowledge is a noble case and one that should be undertaken by every person. At the same time, if we were to learn every single facet of our existence, would life lose some of its flavor?

    I suspect so. As much as we can and have a desire to reduce every idea to logical syllogisms and quantify and define our world, some of our enjoyment in life derives from being ignorant. I would even go so far as to say some of our enjoyment comes from being consciously ignorant of truths so that we can detach ourselves from objective reality and slide towards subjective fantasies. We want to believe that arseholes will be punished. We want to believe that the good guys will prevail. Most of all, however, we want to believe that we are important. Thoughts?

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Mr. Doe:

    I go to sleep with questions, but I awake with answers ...

    Antithesis.

    Will return when I come out of my coma,

    CoCo

  • compound complex
    compound complex

    Mr. Doe:

    I forgot to say "yes."

    I content myself with autodidacticism as it's doubtful that I'll ever return to college after my departure forty years ago.

    If we continue to chip away, we may end up learning a great deal - but EVERYTHING?

    Sigh ...

    CoCo

  • Gopher
    Gopher

    Those people who think they know EVERYTHING are a real pain to those of us who do!

    No I wouldn't want to know everything. If I did and others didn't, it would put me on a different plane, unable to interact. However, if everybody knew everything, everyone would be the same and life would be tedious.

  • TheSilence
    TheSilence

    There are things I don't want to know. I don't want to know the details of my brother and his girlfriend's intimate life. I don't want to know anything about my neighbors' jobs. I don't want to know things that aren't my business and don't pertain to my life. More than not wanting to know, I don't need to know these things to live a happy, fulfilled, good, productive, and giving life.

    The same applies to why we're here and where we came from. I don't need to know to live a happy, fulfilled, good, productive, and giving life. When I die I will either find out... or I won't. I'm okay with not knowing every little, or big, thing in the universe.

    Jackie

  • Black Sheep
    Black Sheep

    I get on really well with people who know that they don't know everything and who are looking for new ways of doing things.

    For them I am a facilitator.

    They know, and I know, that between us, we don't know everything, but that we have just doubled our brainpower by discussing the problem with each other.

    To those who 'know it all' I am an inconvenience and just a 'know it all' who knows nothing.

    I want to know 'everything' but I never will. The person next to me always knows something that I didn't know and that will help me solve a problem in the future.

    Cheers
    Chris

  • Kinjiro
    Kinjiro

    Ignorance is bliss, so goes the saying...

  • snowbird
    snowbird

    Do I want to know everything?

    Of course not! That would be an intolerable burden.

    Do I want to know my ancestry all the way back to whomever?

    You bet your moniker I do!

    Sylvia

  • BurnTheShips
    BurnTheShips
    Do I want to know my ancestry all the way back to whomever?

    How far back can you go?

    BTS

  • White Dove
    White Dove

    I don't feel that I need to know everything. If I did, life would be pretty boring. I just got out of a cult that had "all the answers," and I have no desire to get back into that mindset. I like a few mysteries. It keeps me thinking.

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