Into The Rabbit Hole

There are a great many things that I may never learn.

The more I aim my focus at learning, the more I realize that I really know closer to nothing than anything at all.

I was trying to find a place today, within my experience, for ignorant folks. I could not help but wonder why it was that these creatures of bliss were comfortable just being stupid. To my semantics, ignorance is technically someone who has never had any sort of wisdom presented to them, or never had the opportunity to learn more than what they know, and stupidity is one who, even if wisdom was presented, for one reason or another, would not or could not gain from it. So, please allow me to rephrase. I am unsure of how it is that, in our American society, one could choose to be comfortable, for whatever reason, in never thinking about their understanding of the world as any seeker might be.

I struggled with this question for most of my day. I am in contact with ignorance nearly every day. Because I don’t know whether many of these people have had the perceived opportunity to learn more, I must contend with the classification of ignorant over stupid– besides “stupid” has a lot of stigma against it, and I’d rather stick with the word ‘ignorant’ anyway. Perhaps ignorance is the underlying commonality between socioeconomic classes– perhaps it is something that when never “offered” an opportunity to learn more, to do better for one self, then there is no perceived incentive to try. I don’t believe that ignorant people are necessarily incapable of gaining understanding, but that they either never took the initiative or never knew they could.

No, don’t go interpreting this as me shaking a finger and calling everyone stupid. I am by no means that judgmental, and I truly don’t think that the majority of people are ignorant. I believe there are a select few, and they stick out like sore thumbs. They are unaware that anyone outside of themselves may think differently, and therefore assert all of their own limited personal beliefs upon every person they perceive, assuming that if another person is in some way similar to them, they must therefore think like them.

To me, initially at least, these ignorant people were the bane of society, the ones who cause the most trouble in our existence. They were as useful as flies to me, up until about thirty minutes ago.

Obviously, it is awfully haughty to be considering any person the bane of society, and frankly it’s not very nice, so I wasn’t feeling terribly comfortable with such a categorization. It’s not right to call any one group of people– even the ignorant people– any sort of generalization because the truth is that all of us are dynamic and different and one piece of the puzzle that makes up our existence. Every person is necessary, regardless of my perception of their contribution to a living, thinking, society. It takes all sorts of people to make this world tick, and there must be some sort of purpose in one way or another.

Ultimately, because this is MY problem, and MY thought process, it was up to ME to come up with some sort of conclusion. When I did finally conclude, not long ago, it was for MY benefit, really, which makes sense because I’m working it out in MY head to be something I’M comfortable with. So, yes, it IS all about me, and the ignorant people of the world are here to make MY life a better experience. So there’s that. Work with me on this one.

I realized that it’s my perception of the contrast– between ignorance and the great minds of our civilized world and history– that encourages me to proceed forward with my education, both formal and informal. It makes me realize just how much I really don’t know– and it increases a thirst inside of me to want to know more of everything. I realized tonight that I want to know more of so many things. I want to know the medical intricacies of the human body– how everything works. I want to know how the mind works, how the synapses fire, how drugs treat certain illnesses in certain people but causes absolutely opposite side effects in others. I want to know about eastern philosophy and western religion. I want to become well versed in all theology and metaphysical idioms and the ancient art of Jewish Cabala. I want to know how to perform white magic. I want to know about our world’s history, sociologically and archaeologically. I want to know about politics and bureaucracies. I want to understand physics, string theory and chemistry… I want to be competent in calculus and algebra. I want to know how to read astrology charts and appreciate astronomy. I want to be an expert in our ecology and geology. I want to understand all that has ever existed, and see everything from the eyes of the omnipotent– which is all we would be if we all put every ounce of our understanding and wisdom into one thinking being.

Perhaps this wanting to know everything is what was forbidden in the Garden of Eden. Perhaps nestled amongst the branches of the forbidden Tree of Right from Wrong are the secrets which prevent me from knowing everything in one life time. Lord knows it’s a matter of time (a man-made construct) and even if I was a student for the rest of my life, I still would never have time to know it all– to learn it all. I started too late, and I keep getting delayed… my life will only go on so long, and I realize the fleeting nature of this life time and the amount of knowledge I can acquire in the mean time.

If I could somehow remember the lessons from the past lives– to know what it was like to live before my time… maybe I would have a head start. Or maybe that’s some of the reason why I want to learn- so that I can remember… Either way, there’s no way that in one lifetime I could possibly swallow the lessons from my entire soul’s lifetime. And as far as I know, even if I did have the knowledge from my past, who knows if it would be useful. Perhaps this recognition of the infinite knowledge, the recognition of past memory, past wisdom, is what so many metaphysical scripts were talking about when they said that awareness happens when all souls become aware back on themselves.

Anyway, the point is that there really is a purpose for the ignorance, and it is to serve as contrast. It is to remind me of my own ignorance and open up the idea that there are a great many things that I do not know and do not understand, yet can, somehow, eventually become wise on. I may never know it all, but I see little reason to believe that I can’t learn a great deal, and I’m not even half way through this life yet.

Until my death, I am committed to being a Seeker of knowledge. I am open to learning anything before me. I will do my best to not cast judgment on the people who do not have this thirst– because it behooves me to appreciate people, even the ones who have different purposes and focuses in their lives. Or rather, especially the ones who are different, because without the ignorance found in some people, there would be no contrast to appreciate the genius found in others.