do you ever fear that you know nothing at all?

TinyBubbles

TinyBubbles

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i fear that sometimes, that nothing i know has any basis in reality and in fact is just a product of my own misguided perceptions
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Of course I am aware of such possibility which is indeed quite scary. It is one of those philosophical concepts where everything can be questioned and if you go deeper into it, it will get to the point where you can question you own existence..
 
May said:
i fear that sometimes, that nothing i know has any basis in reality and in fact is just a product of my own misguided perceptions
frown.gif
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i love your questions so much may :).

no, not so much that i know nothing, but that that knowledge has no meaning. In other words, i fear at times that my knowledge lacks direction, does not help people, does not personally give me satisfaction, etc.

to me knowledge in and of itself, while a good thing, is basically useless. You can have all the knowledge in the world and do nothing with it. You can have a huge IQ but little EQ, etc. it's what you do with the knowledge that matters, and that's where my fears lie.

just my two cents..

EDIT: oops, i'm sorry, just read the title and not the actual post. at times i do fear that it is not knowledge so much as a product of misguidedness and my virile imagination.
 
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RememberWhenItRained said:
i love your questions so much may :).

no, not so much that i know nothing, but that that knowledge has no meaning. In other words, i fear at times that my knowledge lacks direction, does not help people, does not personally give me satisfaction, etc.

to me knowledge in and of itself, while a good thing, is basically useless. You can have all the knowledge in the world and do nothing with it. You can have a huge IQ but little EQ, etc. it's what you do with the knowledge that matters, and that's where my fears lie.

just my two cents..

EDIT: oops, i'm sorry, just read the title and not the actual post. at times i do fear that it is not knowledge so much as a product of misguidedness and my virile imagination.
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i agree with you, knowledge is useless if you don't do anything with it, but how can you do anything unless you're certain of what you know? and how can you be certain, when so much of what you know is biased by your moods, your history, your physical context, etc.etc.?

(btw thanks for saying you like my questions, that was sweet & i'm glad you do :)
 
yes i do feel this way sometimes, often at night when i have a chance to think of these things. a bit disheartening for someone who places so much emphasis on truth, but possible if not likely all the same.
 
May said:
i fear that sometimes, that nothing i know has any basis in reality and in fact is just a product of my own misguided perceptions
frown.gif
Click to expand...

All the time. At a point, it may not be possible to 'know' anything and thus we base things on our intuitions and what has worked in the past, but I think it is far worse to think that we know anything for a fact.
 
May said:
i agree with you, knowledge is useless if you don't do anything with it, but how can you do anything unless you're certain of what you know? and how can you be certain, when so much of what you know is biased by your moods, your history, your physical context, etc.etc.?

(btw thanks for saying you like my questions, that was sweet & i'm glad you do :)
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what type of "knowing" are you talking about. are you talking about knowing facts and information, or knowing yourself and your feelings, and others' feelings?
Facts & info i don't worry about, if i know it, i know it, if i don't, then i don't. If i need to learn it it usually becomes pretty obvious.
But when you get more into the subjective aspects then it gets a little more difficult. Mood, etc. can change your perception of things, good point. but if you are talking about info, you know what you do.
If you
re talking about what you know as far as wisdom, and life experience, there is a whole other can of worms...
 
Epistemology is definitely one of my passions and I think about it A LOT.

For me, it is like I can never been 100% sure anyone else is real. I don't mean that in a bad or crazy manner. But how can you truly know? I can't see inside your head, I can't link up to your brain and perform a baseline comparison. I can only take your word for it.

Sure the world is interactive, and we don't see anything beyond what we interact with and what science has shown us. Some claim to have seen more than that, but that is, again, taking their word for it.

It is all inference based on intellect, measurement of inputs such as feelings and senses, and memory; all of which have been proven to be unworthy at times.

As others say, at one point you must lay a foundation somewhere unless you intend to die and find out right away what exists beyond, if anything.

After typing this I hear a faint ringing of "SOMEONE NEEDS A BIT MORE SOCIAL INTERACTION"

hehe.
 
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just realized im probably misinterpreting/over-thinking the whole thing... no one else seemed to have trouble with the response...what am i missing?
 
Earlier today I was mourning former beliefs and wondering if life is worthwhile if you have none.
I have no idea where I come from, why I'm here or where I'm going. I just don't get why all the secrecy, why don't we know? I'm feeling very skeptical lately, about everything. I don't feel fear so much as I feel sadness.
May, have you seen the movie "The Nines" with Ryan Reynolds? I think you'd like it. It's along the lines of existence questioning. I picked the movie up strictly because I think Ryan Reynolds is so appealing but ended up getting my mind blown a bit!
 
sumone said:
Earlier today I was mourning former beliefs and wondering if life is worthwhile if you have none.
I have no idea where I come from, why I'm here or where I'm going. I just don't get why all the secrecy, why don't we know? I'm feeling very skeptical lately, about everything. I don't feel fear so much as I feel sadness.
May, have you seen the movie "The Nines" with Ryan Reynolds? I think you'd like it. It's along the lines of existence questioning. I picked the movie up strictly because I think Ryan Reynolds is so appealing but ended up getting my mind blown a bit!
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OMG I love philosophical movies!
 
I'd like to hear what you think of it too!
 
NeverAmI said:
For me, it is like I can never been 100% sure anyone else is real. I don't mean that in a bad or crazy manner. But how can you truly know? I can't see inside your head, I can't link up to your brain and perform a baseline comparison. I can only take your word for it.

hehe.
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IMO, sounds like an irrational fear, unless you're prone to a psychological disorder, such as paranoid schizophrenia. (take John Nash for instance).
 
This is how I view it.
Our ships sail whether we want them too or not.
We know that there is soo much that we don't know and a lot of what we think we know we are only accepting provisionally.
Look at what you know as clear as you can, then after all the arguments are heard, and you have seen everything you can, how are you going to live? In the end, it doesn't hurt to hope.
 
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May said:
i fear that sometimes, that nothing i know has any basis in reality and in fact is just a product of my own misguided perceptions
frown.gif
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My life in a nutshell.
 
RememberWhenItRained said:
IMO, sounds like an irrational fear, unless you're prone to a psychological disorder, such as paranoid schizophrenia. (take John Nash for instance).
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It's not really a fear, it is just analysis. The worst thing I did when I was younger was to think it meant I was crazy, in thinking that I tried to suppress such thoughts.

It's just curiosity and philosophy.
 
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NeverAmI said:
It's not really a fear, it is just analysis. The worst thing I did when I was younger was to think it meant I was crazy, in thinking that I tried to suppress such thoughts.

It's just curiosity and philosophy.
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ah, i see. thanks for expounding.
 
Nah.
 
What I "know" helps me survive in the world that I see, and imagine myself to be living in. If it turns out that I actually do not know anything, I'll tackle that when I come to it. For the time being, I can't really know anything else so I take comfort in what I can understand.

I have had drug induced explorations of my own mind (and what ever reality it resides in) and those were a little freaky at times. I honestly did think that I knew nothing because of everything I was seeing, hearing, and feeling. I believe that it is entirely possible that what we "know" is in fact nothing at all, but for as long as I'm completely immersed in it, I have no choice but to believe in my knowledge.
 
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