8 thoughts on “The Less You Know”

  1. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing …

    Even more dangerous is what you think you know that you don’t.

  2. Ah, epistemology! How do we know what we know, though? And what *is* knowledge? Deep questions!

    *also questions why ‘belief’ is treated as a negative thing in this quote*

    • At the center of every beLIEf is a LIE. At the heart of every beLIEver is a LIE. I’m not interested in lies.

      I blame the philosophers of the 17th Century for corrupting the word “beLIEf” for the purpose of winning their war of words.

      “Belief” was originally about “work”.

      “I believe in your Public Garden, and will work to make it happen.”

      Those 17th Century philosophers were sitting around coffee hoses getting high on caffeine, sugar, tobacco, and anything else that they could experiment with.

      They weren’t interested in actually working. HA!

        • Thanks for the link.

          “to care, desire, love.”

          That’s a good example of the use the word originally had.

          “I desire your Public Garden, and will work to make it happen.”

          “I love your Public Garden, and will work to make it happen.”

          Where to win their war of words, the philosophers corrupted the term away from doing actual “work” to make things happen.

          belief had by 16c. become limited to “mental acceptance of something as true,” from the religious use in the sense of “things held to be true as a matter of religious doctrine.”

          They corrupted the term into a mental exercise. That if you “beLIEve” in something it will happen. Not “work” to make it happen, but simply “will” it into existence. Thus today you have people saying with a sneer, “Oh, you BeLIEve that? Really?”

          Don’t get me wrong, this corruption comes in useful for Story.

          – Doubt and Belief are two sides of the same coin, that power miracles.

          You have someone “Doubt” that a miracle can happen, yet at the same time be forced by his “faith” to “believe” it will happen. The miracle occurs, driven by that dichotomy of “Doubt and Belief”, and the person “knows” for a fact that it is a miracle. Wonderful! Glorious! but there is a catch.

          That knowledge that a miracle actually happened removes all “Doubt” and thus makes it impossible to replicate the miracle, because without “Doubt and Belief” acting in concert, no miracle can occur.

          It’s like the scene in Constantine:

          Constantine meets with Gabriel
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-828wM9lpLw

          “I believe.” – Constantine

          “No, you know. There’s a difference.” – Gabriel

          This makes it possible for a character to be chasing miracles, yet forever being unable to prove anything, since the miracle cannot be replicated.

          The TV series from 2003, Miracles, was a great example of this. The pilot was beautiful cinematography, the rest of the series fell short because they forgot what they were supposed to be doing. Telling Story.

          Miracles Episode 1 Part 1
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzXXtmjrQPA

          The thing I’m having to do with my stuff, is “work” to stay true to Story. HA!

  3. I remember this gag going around when I was a kid:

    The more you learn, the more you now
    The more you know, the more you forget
    The less you know, the less you forget
    The less you forget, the more you know

    Why learn?

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