What do these quotes mean to you?

[oneeye]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

 

[Rick O'Shez]

A similar quote is attributed to Albert Einstein: “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”

 

[Sees]

I am not a seeker in the sense of being without solidified religious traditions - yet I definitely do always want to learn more and keep the student mindset.

I think these quotes touch on that...while, as often done, use exaggeration to drive home the point. It is more important to understand how vast your ignorance is than to prop up/trumpet what you do know (or think you know). Intellectual stagnation is a bad thing...same as believing your current understanding is the epitome of a clear view of reality. Accepting human mental faculties and sense perception create big limitations on our ability to access and digest information - a know-it-all stance, attitude, etc. portrays the opposite to people who do actually know enough to remain more "grounded"...more or less.

I wouldn't use the term fool for a wise or intelligent person myself - same as I wouldn't call a strongman competitor a weakling.

 

[Quintessence]

I'm curious why you ask, oneeye? I'm not sure it's useful for me to tell you what they mean to me. I'm me, and you're you. What is it you're looking for to get out of this?

 

[GoodbyeDave]

I think they are a bit over the top. In practice, the people quoted didn't always follow their own advice. Einstein rejected quantum mechanics because he "knew" it couldn't be true, Tolstoy filled pages of War and Peace with dogmatic amateur philosophy, Voltaire and Paul were pretty assertive about their convictions. Basically, the coded message is "What you think you know is unreliable. Now listen to me..."

 

[viole]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

I believe these quotes are self defeating deepities. They try to say something deep, but they are meaningless.

If I know nothing, then I cannot possibly claim to know to know nothing, if that knowledge (of knowing nothing) is something.

By the way, I know 2+2=4, which is something.

Ciao

- viole

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

I think they are a bit over the top. In practice, the people quoted didn't always follow their own advice. Einstein rejected quantum mechanics because he "knew" it couldn't be true, Tolstoy filled pages of War and Peace with dogmatic amateur philosophy, Voltaire and Paul were pretty assertive about their convictions. Basically, the coded message is "What you think you know is unreliable. Now listen to me..."

I am certain the context and intent of each was very different, and within those contexts, may have been understandable in different ways.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

It sounds like the theme is, whoever claims he knows everything (say they know that they believe X is true or they know their religious foundations) is really not as, I don't know the right word, that view is not well meaningful than knowing that one doesnt know anything, is comfortable with that, and understands humans have different beliefs that overlap. The issue is not that we have differing beliefs even if we deny or suppress them; it's which beliefs and values do we want to commit ourselves to.

That's the difference between knowing and not knowing is discipline. A fool will say I am comfortable with not knowing, but in that uncertainty, he finds discipline in practice and with that, that is all he needs to know at the present moment not later, not afterlife, not previous life, but now.

Anyone who says they know their faith is true regardless if they don't claim others' is true or not is really, no pun, a fool. Not ignorant or negatively. More of maturity in a sense of claiming one knows life when, by it's definition, it is full of uncertainty and mystery. Why can't we accept that? What makes us make truth-claims to ourselves if not to others? What makes us think we are not seekers all because we are not practicing (the key) the act of seeking?

As said in Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Go back to being a child. Always be in the state of a beginner. "In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." ~Shunryu Suzuki Letter B.

Nam.

 

[jeager106]

"Those who know they know, know not, those who know they know not, know."

Say that real fast 10 times!
There...take that.
Old Native American saying..."snow sticky, sticky, snow no sticky, no sticky.
Simple what?

 

[Treks]

A similar quote is attributed to Albert Einstein: “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”

This x100000. You nailed it. The more we know, the more aware we become of what we don't know, and it's LOTS.

 

[RRex]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

We aren't as smart as we think we are.

 

[YmirGF]

A similar quote is attributed to Albert Einstein: “As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it.”

That certainly describes my experience to a T.

 

[jeager106]

This x100000. You nailed it. The more we know, the more aware we become of what we don't know, and it's LOTS.

And that ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is a good thing.
"I know that I know not. That is the only thing I am sure of."
I pray I never stop learning and maintain an open mind.

 

[crossfire]

From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones:

A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.
Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”
“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”​

These quotes describe what is known as Beginner's Mind, or Shoshin, in Zen.

 

[jeager106]

Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you. --Carl Jung

Jung. My most favorite teacher!

 

[syo]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

it means humans have extremely limited or no knowledge. I'm a seeker.

 

[Mrpasserby]

I am curious to learn what people on this site think about the following quotes. Please include if you are a seeker or "non-seeker" (I put the word in quotation marks because I don't know the correct word to describe the opposite of seeker, not because I think there is no such thing as a non-seeker.)

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates
“A true genius admits that he/she knows nothing.”
― Albert Einstein
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It
“We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom.”
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace
“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing.”
― Voltaire
“He who thinks he knows, doesn’t know. He who knows that he doesn’t know, knows. For in this context, to know is not to know. And not to know is to know.”
― Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth
"And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
The Apostle Paul
(1 Corinthians 8 verse 12 KJV)

To me all of the quotes that are in a spiritual context mean the same thing that words don't teach, therefore those who say that they know something of that which they speak; let's say the the will of god, dont really know anything unless they have gained for themselves experiential knowledge of that subject. I as a spirit enthusiast recommend preparing for and going on spirit quests.

 

[arthra]

A quote from Abdul-Baha:

"All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite. Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.

"Therefore consider: All the sects and peoples worship their own thought; they create a god in their own minds and acknowledge him to be the creator of all things, when that form is a superstition -- thus people adore and worship imagination.

"That Essence of the Divine Entity and the Unseen of the unseen is holy above imagination and is beyond thought. Consciousness doth not reach It. Within the capacity of comprehension of a produced reality that Ancient Reality cannot be contained. It is a different world; from it there is no information; arrival thereat is impossible; attainment thereto is prohibited and inaccessible. This much is known: It exists and Its existence is certain and proven -- but the condition is unknown."

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith , p. 381