Today's
Meditation:
Since
I was a kid, I've had an interesting image in my
mind. It's of one of those giant chalkboards that
used to be in classrooms-- imagine one of them filling an
entire huge wall. And imagine that that board
represents all of the knowledge that's able to be known to
human beings. Now imagine putting the tiniest of
marks somewhere on the board-- anywhere. Compared to
what's possible to know in the world, that tiny spot would
equal much, much more than I'll ever know while I'm on
this planet.
Some
may see this perspective as fatalistic. Others,
though, will see it as realistic. To me it's
important because I always want to keep in mind that no
matter how much I study or learn or memorize, there's
still much more out there that I don't know. And
that's okay-- I'm not meant to know everything there is to
know, am I?
And
keeping this in mind keeps me humble as far as knowledge
is concerned. I can't show off my knowledge because
I know-- humbly-- that if I show off my limited knowledge
I'll still be trying to hide just what I don't know.
This humility also reminds me that even if people don't
know the same things that I know, they still probably know
much, much more than I in other fields and areas.
That's just the way things work.
Another
benefit of keeping this in mind is that it keeps the
pressure off of me-- I don't have to know everything, and I
don't have to worry when someone finds out an area of my
ignorance. I'm gladly ignorant of many things, for I
simply don't have the time or energy to try to know
everything. And having that pressure off of me is a
great feeling, no matter how I look at it.
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