Paradox
– A paradox, also known as an antinomy, is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one’s expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically unacceptable conclusion.
It is well known that the more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know. I contemplated on this last night. I’ll share a few of my thoughts in bullet format – I have no idea if my thoughts have any Truth, they just make sense to me.
1) Knowledge is limitless, which is why Humans will never be able to comprehend Actuality in its totality. Humans are a part of the whole – like a tree trying to understand the jungle.
2) Dissolving the ego, which inevitably happens when you have the humility to understand you know very little increases the potentiality of all things. By continually learning, potentiality increases, which is perceived as needing to know more to the linear mind. In this sense, ‘the more you know, the more you realise you don’t know’.
3) If you look back on your life, the knowledge (and later wisdom) that you pick up is revealed to you. It isn’t something you go out of your way to get. Life seems to hand it to you in an experience or revelation as you’re going about your existence. You think you pick up the books that lead to the information you receive, but do you go there, or do they come to you? (argument about free-will and determinism)
The questions I came to was… ‘what is it in me that is doing the learning and understanding? What is the purpose of this knowledge? What is it in me seeking, and is that ‘seekingness’ the barrier to what I’m looking for?’
Something to contemplate on further.
“I know one thing, that I know nothing” – Socrates.
Paradoxes in everyday life
Effort – The more energy you put into something, the more energised you become – not tired, which is the common conception.
Rest – Past a point, the more you rest your body, the more tired it becomes.
Food – The less you eat, the less you feel you need and vice versa.
Beliefs – The tighter you hold onto them, the weaker they are.
Freedom – The more you have, the more responsibility you need to contain it.