Sometimes, it's best just not to know, to maintain a childlike innocence, whereby the world remains full of hope and wonder. Nae wonder Zen Buddhists say those seeking enlightenment should always retain a "beginner's mind".
Mind when you started learning stuff? You were a blank page. Then you started to accumulate information, facts, theories, a great jumble of increasingly confused knowledge. Now you have a blank look.
A colleague has previously written in praise of ignorance about sport and I agree that this, too, can be a joy. During Wimbledon, say, somebody asks you: "What's the score in the tennis?" And you say: "What tennis?" And they say: "Andy Murray." And you say: "Oh, pleased to meet you. I'm Robert Something. Can never remember the surname."
There are many types of ignorance. Many Scots are ignorant about their own country. In the independence debate, you often hear self-righteous "don't knows" saying they're being deprived of knowledge about the issues because nobody is spelling them out for them. Perhaps such citizens do not have computers.
Idlers by nature, they blame the politicians who are, by contrast, busy people engaged in thankless public service. All the information is out there. The political parties spell it out in great detail, but they'd be as well not bothering.
The trick with ignorance is never to boast about it, because then you give the game away that you are knowledgable about your ignorance. Pretended ignorance is unbecoming and really quite shameful. You should strive at all times for genuine ignorance.
The number of scoobies you wish to have is nil. Remain clueless, unperturbed by facts, untroubled by truth. Knowledge is power and what does power do? Zactly: corrupts.
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In praise of - ignorance.
IGNORANCE is bliss, they say.
And you know who they are: us. And we are right.
Sometimes, it's best just not to know, to maintain a childlike innocence, whereby the world remains full of hope and wonder. Nae wonder Zen Buddhists say those seeking enlightenment should always retain a "beginner's mind".
Mind when you started learning stuff? You were a blank page. Then you started to accumulate information, facts, theories, a great jumble of increasingly confused knowledge. Now you have a blank look.
A colleague has previously written in praise of ignorance about sport and I agree that this, too, can be a joy. During Wimbledon, say, somebody asks you: "What's the score in the tennis?" And you say: "What tennis?" And they say: "Andy Murray." And you say: "Oh, pleased to meet you. I'm Robert Something. Can never remember the surname."
There are many types of ignorance. Many Scots are ignorant about their own country. In the independence debate, you often hear self-righteous "don't knows" saying they're being deprived of knowledge about the issues because nobody is spelling them out for them. Perhaps such citizens do not have computers.
Idlers by nature, they blame the politicians who are, by contrast, busy people engaged in thankless public service. All the information is out there. The political parties spell it out in great detail, but they'd be as well not bothering.
The trick with ignorance is never to boast about it, because then you give the game away that you are knowledgable about your ignorance. Pretended ignorance is unbecoming and really quite shameful. You should strive at all times for genuine ignorance.
The number of scoobies you wish to have is nil. Remain clueless, unperturbed by facts, untroubled by truth. Knowledge is power and what does power do? Zactly: corrupts.
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We moderate all comments on HeraldScotland on either a pre-moderated or post-moderated basis. If you're a relatively new user then your comments will be reviewed before publication and if we know you well then your comments will be subject to moderation only if other users or the moderators believe you've broken the rules, which are available here.
Moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours. Please be patient if your posts are not approved instantly.
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