Sounds quizzical, huh?
In the realm of our existence, our perspectives are somewhat dimmed by our prejudices.
We often see things only as they are and forget what they should be to boost our motivation and conviction.
When this type of perception conquers us, we begin to entertain doubts and fears as to how we can overcome the confusing situation before us. We make a step backward or we retreat completely because we are overwhelmed by the dilemma presented before us.
Because we do not know what we don’t know.
Ignorance is a disease that can be cured if you are willing to undergo the pains and difficulties of acquiring the wisdom that make men great and greater.
A Confucian saying, attributed to Guan Zong (c.700 BCE) says: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”
Education and wisdom are almost on a parallel line. Except that education, when defined, is the amassing of knowledge and the application of this knowledge is called wisdom.
Which brings us to the title of the piece: You don’t know what you don’t know.
Is this a highfalutin terminology I am using or too highly philosophical and thought provoking?
I pray it is the latter.
Because this is exactly the situation where we are all now.
We seem not to exert more efforts to seek the appropriate knowledge leading to the truth. We become contented with what we have today in our possessions unmindful of whether these will benefit the greater majority or just us.
We even tend to let shrewd and shadowy figures take the driver’s seat because we don’t care to know what we need to know. We acquiesce oh so softly to the machinations of people with glib tongues.
Therefore, we don’t know what we don’t know because we don’t want to know something that we need to know for our own sake.
Greek philosopher Heraclitus (c. 500 BCE) said: “Much learning does not teach understanding.”
So, there you are. Heraclitus seems to say that however much you get to learn about something does not necessarily lead to understanding.
Which supports my headline that “you don’t know what you don’t know.”
Let me shift to our understanding of democracy in relation to our present -day circumstances.
Forgive me if I say that Filipinos do not know how to exercise the inherent mandate of the sovereignty that resides in the people. Our countrymen appear to equate our democratic government only with the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.
When the exercise of these freedoms is threatened, they argue heatedly and vehemently but ignore the fact that they are the very guardians of the freedoms they want to freely exercise.
As you may now observe, some of our countrymen would rather join the bandwagon mentality not aware that they are being led by vested interest groups and sectors because they feel and think these efforts conveniently benefit them.
It pains me to see that the widespread deception being inflicted on our people is combined with the lies that make suffering more difficult.
It pains me to watch colors of different persuasions tangling no end, without the possibility of arriving at a peaceful truce but opting to eternally dispute what seems to be a mere question of a definition of terms.
Yes, we need to pursue the truth to ensure that a common understanding of it will liberate us from ignorance.
From Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, the man responsible for the establishment of the Republic of Texas, comes this quote: “Education is the guardian of genius of democracy. It is the only dictator that free men recognize, and the only ruler that freemen require.” (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
