Rational Insanity
The knowledge of a thing makes life more difficult
I haven't been writing for quite a while now. When I say writing, I mean it the way Julie Andrews would equate singing her number in the Princess Diaries as sing-talking, and the way she would sing songs before her throat operation as the real singing. So, I haven't been writing, what I'm doing now is sing-talking as Dame Julie would put it. It's been a while since I've written a decent piece of poetry and whenever I write stories, I tend to stop somewhere in the story and fail to go back to the drawing board and continue the story I've written. I've been having spells like this since God knows when, and the only reason I find to explain why I find it so difficult to write nowadays is because I have acquired more technical skills on the subject. Knowing the exact technicalities of writing and the actual skill that goes into it leaves more things to consider even before I have written a piece. Hence, even before the first pen stroke, or key stroke on the computer, the rules, regulations, standards, and other what-nots have to be considered first, therefore making the actual writing of a piece more difficult than when it used to be before knowing what real creative writing really is. Sometimes, I just wish I hadn't been to the workshops I've been to in the past so that I could just write and not care about form, truth on the literal level, or whatever, but there is a consolation. The consolation is that now, whenever I am able to write something after the contorted and complicated considerations, it is something worth the written piece, to say the least.
Writing is not the only thing that is made difficult by the equipment of knowledge. Most of the things we do in life become more difficult when we have been enlightened by things that we did not know before. Sex, for example - before, people would indiscriminately and blindly go about searching for it, but when HIV/AIDS came into existence, the knowledge of the possibility of contracting the disease put a lid on people's libido. It did not make finding sex difficult, it made looking for it difficult because of the considerations that have to be considered to ensure that the sex that you get is safe. Another classic example is prayer - when we were children, we just prayed without considering anything else aside from the fact that we are talking to God. Later, with the knowledge of the ritualistic requirements required in praying and the technicalities involved, the 'communication' lines that we once had with the Divine when we were children were severed. We pray, but according to how we have been taught to pray, by our religions, by our cultures, and by the limitations that are set before us. I am quite sure that since childhood, none of us has truly experienced the intimacy of actually talking to the Divine. We try so hard, but praying has become so difficult. It has become laced with senseless considerations that we now find it very difficult to connect with the spiritual 'us'. Have we ever since really prayed the way we used to do as children? In our hearts, we want to, but we find that we can no longer regain that intimate connection that we once had and the pure, spotless, and innocent faith that thrived in the absence of knowledge.
These are just a few things that knowledge makes difficult, but can there be wisdom without knowledge? Wisdom is the ultimate reward of life and we do not become wise by poring over volumes of books and studying theories and concepts. These only make us intelligent. The irony here is that while we all work to achieve wisdom, we cannot live and work for that goal if we refuse the opportunity to make ourselves intelligent with knowledge that is readily available. The dilemma is the concept that when we gain knowledge, we actually lose the freedom to function without boundaries, in contrast we are also able to function more efficiently but, this time with considerations, with boundaries. The question therefore is, are we ready to give up the freedom that 'not knowing' gives us for the efficient results of 'knowing'?
This i s a question that has already become trite and irrelevant because almost all of us have chosen the path of knowledge in pursuit of the greater reward which is wisdom. Unfortunately, we tend to lose our focus along the way, because with knowledge and efficient results, comes recognition, fame, power, and fortune, and so instead of pursuing wisdom with the knowledge that we have gained, we reach a static state where we are in a constant love affair with the knowledge that we have gained. One who is well aware that the reason for the acquisition of knowledge is for the achievement of wisdom will not dwell on the temporary and tangible rewards of knowledge but will rather move on to greater things in the spirit of humility.
When will man stop discovering things - we might ask? When nothing more needs to be discovered? When the divine state has finally been breeched? When the knowledge that has been acquired through the years would build a tower that would reach heaven? Babel did this once, and they all failed because it is not knowledge that will ultimately usher in for us an age of enlightenment, but wisdom. Let us learn and become wise from the things we learn, the rewards of wisdom are greater than the fleeting glimpses of heaven that humanity and greed affords us with.
Be rational; be insane, every once in a while! TTFN!
Hello to my dearest readers, to Vanessa, to Lea, Jenny, Am-am, Dot, Verona, James, Sheen, Hellpen, Anne, Mary Dale, Chan,Michelle, Zarthus, Jonald, Mr. Bobot, Vic, Vincent, and Rex, Alex, Arvin, Corz, Jim, Kiara, Malikh, Audrae, Franz, Hendrick, Janice, Jay, Jim, Jonathan, Mark, Marz, Mel, Pres, Nhonoy, Niel, Piper, Rheavil, Joey, Alma, Rodolfo, Ecker, Ryan, Roni, Ian, Narle, Sunny and to Anuj of CMC, I love you all! Byers! Salamat gid sa mga walang-hintong text and reactions nyo! Catch Rational Insanity in TNT's online edition, check us out at www.thenewstoday.info, text me at (0920)9254269, or email me at prague@eudoramail.com. Byers! Mmmmmmmwah!