I Know, I Know!

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Current mood: good
Category: Blogging

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance-that principle is contempt prior to investigation." --Herbert Spencer
Reprinted in the Second Appendix of Alcoholics Anonymous

How often have I said
"I know!"
usually interrupting another who is trying to pass on some sort of learning to me.

When I look at this statement,
I realize that what I am really saying varies
but it could be
"I don't care"
"You bore me"
"You (and your opinions) are not important to me"
"You go to hell! You go to hell and you DIE!"
okay not that last one so much
[btw you have to do that last one in Eric Cartman's voice]
when i say "i know"
i cease to listen to the experience
coming from outside of myself
since we are most definitely our smartest somewhere
between ages 15 and 18
we are likely to use this statement quite a bit
and deprive ourselves of all types of useful knowledge
but if you are like me,
and you carried this "i know"
from a much earlier age,
and then matured at about the same rate
as a sea tortoise,
you may still be dealing with the "i know"
phenomenon in your late 20s
what to do?
just stop it.
catch it when it's coming out.
it sounds like this at first
"i kno..."
followed by
"i kn..."
or something like that, you get the picture
eliminate it from your vocabulary
just some thoughts

The greatest block to learning new things
are the things we already know.