You Know Nothing

Ants know as much about reality as we do.

Photo by Peter F. Wolf on Unsplash

How did the universe come about? Until recently, cosmologists believed the Big Bang was responsible, but now they are not so sure. How did life come about? Biologists have crackpot ideas like lightning striking a pool of goo, but even Dawkins, the arch-materialist, admits there are gaps in knowledge. Why is there something instead of nothing? Some have called this the fundamental question of philosophy. I could go on, but the answers to these questions lie within us and not out there. Half-brain-dead scientists who have proudly rejected philosophy would never guess such a thing.

Kant, Schopenhauer, and even Spinoza are sure that time is a property of our consciousness and, as such, not a property of reality, whatever that is. So, to ask how the universe began is a stupid question worthy of contemporary scientists, because time starts and ends with us. The fact that existence as we know it is a product of our mind, acts as a good filter on the sorts of questions we can ask. Even questions about our own existence should be put through this filter. That old chestnut “who am I?” is a meaningless question. We only know ourselves in time and space, and as such, we cannot know what we really are.

Hopefully, you are starting to see that we know nothing. We see the world as our consciousness allows us to; it’s a purely human affair and certainly not a God’s-eye view of things. We have as much insight into the nature of things as an ant, despite our pretensions and bold statements.

Our lack of knowledge and understanding goes even further. You probably have no idea why you’ve ended up reading this or why you are feeling the way you do. I experience a great sense of relief when I realize I know nothing and cannot know anything of substance. It appeals to my lazy nature, and I quite happily adopt an ant-mind, those happy little things that get on with life without asking questions that cannot be answered.