Socrates was wrong
Knowledge is power.
How many times have we heard this one? It is one of the battle cries of our society. It’s an idea so obvious, so undeniable that few ever give it a second thought. We don’t just seek knowledge; we worship it. Even Socrates, a wise man if there ever was one, said, “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance.”
If only it were that simple. The truth is, Socrates was wrong. Here’s why:
First, the pursuit of knowledge often becomes an end in itself. Too many people are living their lives as if they’re just “one secret” away from being able to take action. One secret, one book, one seminar, one whatever away from having the “knowledge” it’s going to take for them to succeed. Then, and only then, will they attempt to do the things they wish to do with their lives. Of course, they never quite achieve the state of knowledge they’re seeking. Why? Because it doesn’t exist.
In his book, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him, Sheldon Kopp points out that, “All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficient data.”
Notice he said all important decisions, not some, many or even most. All of them. And if we take this reasoning a step further we can easily infer that all endeavors we may take must be made in the same way – on the basis of insufficient data. In other words, no matter how much we study, prepare or practice, some degree of ignorance is unavoidable and accepting this is what separates those who overcome their ignorance from those who are eaten up by it.
Sure, knowledge can be advantageous, but this absurd notion that ignorance is “evil” and therefore must be – or even can be – eliminated serves no one but the peddlers of magic wisdom.
Second, knowledge can actually destroy your power. Yes, destroy it. Here’s how:
A few years ago I had a conversation with a very successful entrepreneur. When I asked him what he attributed his success to, he said, without hesitation, ignorance. Yes, ignorance. He said he was grateful he didn’t know how difficult his climb to the top was going to be before he began. If he had known, he would have never begun. For him, knowledge isn’t power. Ignorance is. And he’s not alone.
I‘ve asked the same question of other successful people and almost without fail, ignorance ranks high on their list of success attributes. Whether they knew it explicitly or not from the onset of their endeavors, on some level these people understood that “too much knowledge” could destroy their will to act. If they had entertained all the negative possibilities that could befall them before taking action, they would have never taken action.
According to the narrator in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground, “…a man of heightened consciousness…often gives up so completely in the face of his antithesis that he honestly feels himself, with all his heightened consciousness, to be a mouse, not a man.”
And cartoon characters aside, the achievements of mice are slim indeed.
And third, knowledge isn’t the sole, nor even primary, determining factor in man’s ability to succeed in life. To elevate knowledge above such qualities as drive, resilience, awareness, cunning and the like, is, ironically, the height of ignorance.
Dr. Christopher Hyatt, in the introduction to his deliciously irreverent book, The Psychopath’s Bible puts it this way:
There is a lot of slop in life. You can make a ton of mistakes, be the biggest screwup and still survive and even succeed. Don’t let anyone fool you about this. There are millions-billions-of people who believe all kinds of lies and still do well. Some people believe the truth and are utter failures. Life is tolerant, even stupidly so.
You might want to read that one again. Maybe even put it in a frame above your desk as I have done as it’s a hell of a lot closer to reality than Socrates’ pithy quote.
Well, there you have it. Three reasons I think Socrates was wrong to classify knowledge as “the one good” and ignorance as “the one evil.” Knowledge is not power. Neither is ignorance. There is, however, a balance between the two and our power lies in finding it. And the surest way to do that is not to worship at the feet of the wise but to fumble and bumble our way through life; if there is something we must learn, we are more apt to learn it by living life and making mistakes than by preparing to live life and hoping to avoid them.
Posted on Sunday, December 05, 2004 at 07:20 AM
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Want to find out what others want? Don’t ask them and they’ll tell you.
It’s been said that we can often get what we want by helping other people get what they want. But how do we find out what other people want? Ask them? Of course. Ask them. This seems so obvious it’s hardly worth mentioning. And I wouldn’t mention it except for the fact that it is often DEAD WRONG.
Ask people what they want and they’ll tell you what they think they’re supposed to want. They’ll tell you what they believe you want them to want. In fact, people will tell you almost anything but what they really want.
Why?
Many reasons. Perhaps they truly don’t KNOW what they want. Maybe they just can’t articulate it. Or maybe they just want approval and can’t openly admit it so they offer up more noble sounding desires.
Regardless, in many, many cases, people just can’t, or won’t, tell you their true desires. Again, not always, but certaily more often than any of us care to admit.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t inquire about the wishes of others. I am saying we should always consider that there may be more to their desires than they’re willing to admit. As persuaders we would do well to remember that…
People will tell you exactly want they want as long as you don’t ask them. Instead, engage them and observe them. Do this and their behavior will eventually reveal what their language so often conceals.
Posted on Wednesday, November 17, 2004 at 07:41 PM
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When the Obvious Isn’t So Obvious
I am suspicious of anything that is overly complicated. Whether it is a book, a theory, a religion or just about anything else, I prefer the simple over the complex and the obvious over the esoteric. This is not because I am lazy. It’s because, more often than not, the complicated things in life aren’t complicated because they’re important; they’re complicated to make us think they’re important.
When I look back over my life the ideas that have made the most difference weren’t those that took years to comprehend. They were ideas that took years to appreciate. Big difference. Ideas like: pick your battles, save for a rainy day, you can’t please everyone and don’t zip up your pants in the dark.
Of course, we can all appreciate the importance of these “simple ideas” in retrospect. The trouble is we often only appreciate them in retrospect. More often than not we have to pay a terrible price before we appreciate such “obvious” wisdom. Then, we wonder why it took us so long to do so.
How can we be so stupid? Here’s my guess…
We dismiss the obvious and worship the complex because doing so relieves us of any responsibility for our own shortcomings in life. Think about it…
If there is some “wisdom” or “process” that is necessary to be successful and we haven’t learned it yet, how can anyone hold us responsible for our own failures in life? They can’t and we know it. On the other hand, if our lives are in shambles because we’re overlooking the most simple rules of life, (e.g. hard work, integrity, perseverance, etc), we would only have ourselves to blame.
This is why we’re so willing to forgo the obvious in favor of the complex. It has nothing to do with the value of the information itself. It has everything to do with its ability to relieve us from the responsibility for the shortcomings in our lives. Accepting the obvious requires us to accept responsibility as well. Entertaining the complex invites us to shirk responsibility. And shirk it we do.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not against all complexity. Some complexity is apparently unavoidable such as in the fields of medicine, engineering, law and bed-making (I’m 41 and I still can’t figure out how to make the bed without getting trapped between the sheets.) But when it comes to the basic ideas that will guide us through our lives, it ain’t that hard. Really.
Ultimately, the ideas that are going to have the biggest impact in our lives aren’t complicated ideas we don’t know yet; they’re simple ideas we don’t appreciate yet. Of course, this is easy to see when we’re thinking about our lives. It’s a little harder to see when we’re living them.
Posted on Tuesday, November 16, 2004 at 06:56 AM
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Note regarding the quality of life
Recent events have given me reason to pause and reflect deeply on my life. In doing so, an insight occured to me that has given me great comfort and I wanted to share it with you. For what it’s worth, here it is:
The quality of your life depends less on what you know, what you have and what you do than on what you appreciate.
I appreciate a lot of things. I hope you do as well.
Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 at 08:23 AM
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Check out The Persuaders
I caught an excellent program the other night on the PBS show Frontline. It was called The Persuaders and was well worth watching. If you didn’t catch it the other night, the bad news is it doesn’t appear it’s going to be rebroadcast anytime soon. The good news is you can watch the show online right now by clicking the link below:
Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 at 05:36 AM
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