Increasingly I trust that I know that I don't know and most things I do not know. How is this beneficial?
Trusting that you "know that you don’t know" can be profoundly beneficial, as it fosters humility, openness, and a willingness to learn. This mindset aligns with the right hemisphere’s ability to remain receptive to new perspectives, complexity, and ambiguity—qualities that are crucial for personal growth and wisdom.
Here are some ways this approach benefits you:
Encourages Curiosity and Learning: Accepting that there is much you don’t know keeps curiosity alive, making you more receptive to learning and exploring new ideas. This openness helps you stay adaptive, flexible, and engaged with the world.
Fosters Humility and Empathy: Recognizing your limits makes it easier to listen to others, appreciate different perspectives, and avoid the pitfalls of rigid thinking. This humility deepens relationships and fosters empathy, as you become more attuned to others' experiences.
Reduces Stress and Pressure: Releasing the need to "know everything" can be freeing, reducing the pressure to have all the answers. It allows you to engage with life in a more relaxed and balanced way, where questions are valued as much as answers.
Supports Right-Hemisphere Balance: This approach aligns with Iain McGilchrist’s insights into the importance of the right hemisphere’s openness to the unknown. By honoring what you don’t know, you keep the mind balanced between the analytical certainty of the left hemisphere and the exploratory, connected nature of the right hemisphere.
Enriches Meaning and Creativity: Embracing the unknown invites mystery and wonder into your life, which can deepen your experience of meaning and fuel creativity. It encourages a view of life as an ongoing exploration, where each new experience or realization adds layers to your understanding. In essence, trusting in "not knowing" allows you to engage with life in a fuller, richer, and more adaptable way, fostering personal growth, meaningful relationships, and a resilient, open-minded approach to life.
The Stoic tradition, I believe, would agree with this approach?
Yes, the Stoic tradition aligns well with the approach of embracing "not knowing" and recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge. Stoic philosophers like Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius emphasized humility, acceptance, and the understanding that there are many things beyond our control—including the full scope of knowledge.
In Stoicism, this acknowledgment of “not knowing” is tied to wisdom, as the Stoics saw wisdom not as possessing all answers but as recognizing one’s limitations and the unpredictability of life. Here’s how this Stoic mindset supports the concept:
Acceptance of Limits: The Stoics taught that we should focus on what we can control—our actions, judgments, and responses—while accepting what we cannot control, which includes the entirety of knowledge. By admitting that we "do not know," we free ourselves from the need to control or anticipate every outcome.
Openness to Learning: Stoicism values continuous self-improvement and growth, recognizing that one should always be learning and adapting. This humility, a key Stoic principle, mirrors the value of acknowledging "I don’t know," as it keeps us open to learning and resilient in the face of uncertainty.
Cultivation of Wisdom and Perspective: For the Stoics, wisdom comes from observing life with a calm, balanced perspective, knowing that our views may be limited. Marcus Aurelius often reminded himself to see the bigger picture and acknowledge the mystery of existence, which is akin to embracing "not knowing."
Inner Peace and Resilience: By accepting that we don’t know and can’t know everything, we cultivate an inner peace and release the anxiety that comes from trying to grasp and control the unknown. Stoicism teaches us to remain grounded, focusing on virtue and what we can understand in the present moment.
In these ways, Stoicism indeed shares a deep affinity with the approach of "knowing that you don’t know." Both perspectives encourage humility, growth, and a calm acceptance of life’s mysteries, fostering a balanced and resilient mindset.