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Einstein had a curious mind. He knew the limits of his knowledge but was intellectually curious enough to discover amazing secrets about our universe. “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” He said. Einstein learned physics because he had an open mind. He was very observant and enjoyed asking thought-provoking scientific questions. The Wright Brothers never graduated from high school. Walter Pitts, who laid the foundations of cognitive sciences, taught himself mathematical logic, psychology, and neuroscience. Charles Dickens started self-learning at the age of 15. He wrote 15 novels and hundreds of short stories in his lifetime.
By the 20th century, he was recognised as a literary genius. Susan Fowler, Anna Wintour, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller and hundreds of other global influencers learned to be experts on their own. They knew the limits of their knowledge but most importantly, how much they could learn on their own. Knowing what you don’t know is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool,” physicist Richard Feynman said.
Once you accept your ignorance, you can define the best path to move forward. And you can design your self-learning to help you grow or improve yourself. Knowing what you don’t know opens up a lot of learning opportunities. You become more curious and embrace a growth mindset.
A better understanding of your knowledge and skills blindspots can open up new paths for improving your intelligence. It can also give you a better perspective on what to learn in the short or long term. With the right kind of knowledge, you can become a better version of yourself. Improving our intelligence starts with intellectual humility . The consciousness of the limit of our knowledge and the ability to acknowledge our cognitive blind spots.
“The brighter you are, the harder it can be to see your own limitations. Being good at thinking can make you worse at rethinking,” writes Adam M. Grant, the author of Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know.
People who think they are never wrong don’t value growth. Better or improved knowledge matters less for them, even though their mental growth depends on it. You can only arrive at a better understanding if you are open to objective reasoning and make room for intellectual growth. Your knowledge in any field can be improved — gaps or blind spots can be reduced. But you can only get better if you don’t protect what you know (which can sometimes be wrong).
“An ignorant mind is precisely not a spotless, empty vessel, but one that’s filled with the clutter of irrelevant or misleading life experiences, theories, facts, intuitions, strategies, algorithms, heuristics, metaphors, and hunches that regrettably have the look and feel of useful and accurate knowledge.” Steven Novella said.
Many people are convinced that what they know is the only truth. The ugly truth is, reality can sometimes be subjective. To improve your intelligence, keep an open mind and learn to change your mind when presented with better knowledge.
The wisdom of ignorance.
“There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. ”— Donald Rumsfeld
Knowing what you don’t know is more valuable than holding on to what you know. Many people hold on to their perceptions, behaviours, skills and opinions for too long, without thinking about the many ways they can improve their world-views. Truly intelligent people are looking for opportunities to prove themselves wrong. They stop assuming everything is black or white, true or false and think rationally about every point of view. The paradox of knowledge is that the more you know, the more you understand the level of your ignorance. It’s humbling if you are prepared and willing to acknowledge your blind spots. The simple recognition of your limits can help you ask better questions, find more intelligent sources of knowledge and engage in deeper rational conversations. Socrates was right, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
In all your “gettings”, get understanding.
1. The curiosity to experiment and explore.
2. The honesty to observe the world as it is, not as you wish it to be.
3. The humility to kill your favorite ideas when you learn something new.
4. The consistency to repeat this cycle for life.
Philosopher Bertrand Russell’s 10 commandments for life
Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.
Do not think it worth while to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.
Never try to discourage thinking for you are sure to succeed.
When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.
Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.
Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.
Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.
Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
Be scrupulously truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.
Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.
Source: The best answer to fanaticism: Liberalism(Russell’s article in The New York Times Magazine, 1951)
The Emperor’s Secret. The Most Important Stoic Rules For These Crazy Times
It feels like a personal conspiracy. All the things going wrong in your life. Like the universe is targeting you. No. It’s not. The experiences of life don’t disappoint us; our models of reality do. Stoicism works for me because it assumes reality is already at the door. Work with it or suffer twice in your head. Most of our suffering comes from resisting the reality that’s already here. You waste a lot of energy trying to force specific outcomes. Like expecting your relationship to go a certain way. It won’t.
About me: I’m Thomas. My essays cross between productivity, philosophy, psychology. I also write a Fast Company column on smarter living. My readers include intellectually curious people from Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Salesforce, LinkedIn, Apple, BBC, HubSpot and Morning Brew.
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