Mood Piece January 11 2018

“That’s true, but what do I know?” he said

And with that he was struck mute, what exactly did he know? He was sure that he knew things, some even came to mind when he thought about it; but there weren’t enough to make up the difference between what the thought he knew and what he could prove he knew. How was it he could walk around with all of this unknown knowledge? Was it even his, if he didn’t even know it? He decided to write a list, a comprehensive list of everything he knew. Then he’d be sure, sure he finally knew everything he knew. No more hidden facts or unseen memories. But then, how could he be sure he’d got it all? Who was to say he hadn’t forgotten one of the things he knew? Perhaps that meant he knew nothing, that he was just a passive conduit for knowledge he never had any real claim to to begin with. Perhaps he was truly a tabula rasa kept passive and content by his own reflective ignorance. But wait! Now he knew at least that he didn’t know what he knew! That couldn’t have been a thing he didn’t know he knew before he knew it, and what sort of unknowing channel of facts would ever come to know that? That meant…

“Thanks,” she replied “I’ll try not to dwell on it too much.”