Belief. Wisdom.
food for thought.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg must have been a genius. I mean, I have no idea who he is, but he knows everything.
"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
That's probably one of the best quotes that I've ever read because it's so true. You can't gain any knowledge without questioning what you already know, and even more so, what you don't know. Or maybe even why the things that you know are the way that you know them. The more that I think about it, I really think that this is the reason some people turn out smarter than others. It's all about questioning. I've always been asked how I turned out so smart, and I really think it's because I asked so many questions. I asked at least enough questions that my parents ran out of answers. And then I had to look for my own answers. I really hope that my kids question everything that I tell them. I don't want them to ever believe me. If they believe me when I'm teaching them, then they'll grow up to be stupid. And if they don't ask me questions, I'm going to teach them how to ask questions, and how to wonder. If you don't ask questions, where are the answers gonna come from? I'm still questioning everything. Nothing in particular, really everything. Why can someone tell you that something is the way that it is and you not ask for an explanation? There should ideally be an explanation for everything. Everything should be explainable in some fashion. I kinda go by the whole "guilty until proven innocent" mentality here. "False until proven true." There's no problem in questioning everything that you're taught because if the things that you're taught are indeed true then they should have justifiable answers and explanations as a reply to your questions. And if they can answer your questions, then you have confirmed that they're true and there was no need to question them in the first place. The only problem arises when they can't answer your questions. Because then they aren't true, and from that spawns more questions about why you're being told lies in the first place.
So you have no true wisdom until you realize that there isn't an answer to every question. You're truely wise when you understand that you just can not understand everything. You can't understand everything because everything wasn't meant to be understood. Some things just ARE. They are, with no reason for why they are, and it's apparent to a wise man that these things are, but the questions that you would ask about why it is can't be answered. But if they are facts, and your questions can't confirm their identity as a fact by being answered, then they must not be facts. And a fact that is not a fact is fiction. So wisdom is the final realization that everything is a lie and that you've got to deal with it. Nothing makes sense. Everything is some nonsensical mumbo jumbo mixed up mess that is mistaken for reality. A sorry excuse for existence.
"First there is a time when we believe everything, then for a little while we believe with discrimination, then we believe nothing whatever, and then we believe everything again - and, moreover, give reasons why we believe."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Then you realize that nothing is supposed to be explained. You give up and forget that your questions still haven't been answered. You realize that life is life because it can't be explained. You understand that its inexplicablity is what makes it so amazing. It still doesn't make sense, you just don't care anymore. You die happy.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg must have been a genius. I mean, I have no idea who he is, but he knows everything.
"With most men, unbelief in one thing springs from blind belief in another."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
"One's first step in wisdom is to question everything - and one's last is to come to terms with everything."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
That's probably one of the best quotes that I've ever read because it's so true. You can't gain any knowledge without questioning what you already know, and even more so, what you don't know. Or maybe even why the things that you know are the way that you know them. The more that I think about it, I really think that this is the reason some people turn out smarter than others. It's all about questioning. I've always been asked how I turned out so smart, and I really think it's because I asked so many questions. I asked at least enough questions that my parents ran out of answers. And then I had to look for my own answers. I really hope that my kids question everything that I tell them. I don't want them to ever believe me. If they believe me when I'm teaching them, then they'll grow up to be stupid. And if they don't ask me questions, I'm going to teach them how to ask questions, and how to wonder. If you don't ask questions, where are the answers gonna come from? I'm still questioning everything. Nothing in particular, really everything. Why can someone tell you that something is the way that it is and you not ask for an explanation? There should ideally be an explanation for everything. Everything should be explainable in some fashion. I kinda go by the whole "guilty until proven innocent" mentality here. "False until proven true." There's no problem in questioning everything that you're taught because if the things that you're taught are indeed true then they should have justifiable answers and explanations as a reply to your questions. And if they can answer your questions, then you have confirmed that they're true and there was no need to question them in the first place. The only problem arises when they can't answer your questions. Because then they aren't true, and from that spawns more questions about why you're being told lies in the first place.
So you have no true wisdom until you realize that there isn't an answer to every question. You're truely wise when you understand that you just can not understand everything. You can't understand everything because everything wasn't meant to be understood. Some things just ARE. They are, with no reason for why they are, and it's apparent to a wise man that these things are, but the questions that you would ask about why it is can't be answered. But if they are facts, and your questions can't confirm their identity as a fact by being answered, then they must not be facts. And a fact that is not a fact is fiction. So wisdom is the final realization that everything is a lie and that you've got to deal with it. Nothing makes sense. Everything is some nonsensical mumbo jumbo mixed up mess that is mistaken for reality. A sorry excuse for existence.
"First there is a time when we believe everything, then for a little while we believe with discrimination, then we believe nothing whatever, and then we believe everything again - and, moreover, give reasons why we believe."
-Georg Christoph Lichtenberg
Then you realize that nothing is supposed to be explained. You give up and forget that your questions still haven't been answered. You realize that life is life because it can't be explained. You understand that its inexplicablity is what makes it so amazing. It still doesn't make sense, you just don't care anymore. You die happy.