on
Radical Boy Manifesto: Wisdom has failed
People can grow no wiser.
I’ve come to this conclusion. There’s no rational conclusion about life, living or the pursuit of anything that can’t be contradicted reasonably.
Reason has limits. The heart of the problem with reason is this: it only works as far as its assumptions will carry it. You can’t begin with reason. You have to begin with some observation, the accuracy of which will always be suspect, and go from there. Assumptions, like our eyes and our fingertips, are small and simple. Life is vast and contradictory. You can’t begin at one place and expect to go everywhere. You simply can’t.
And that’s all the further I’m going to go with this logically, because the whole point is that logic has its limitations. Reason can only take us so far. The wise man has no way to know what’s right. The Wise Man has done as much as he can do. There is no right or wrong choice among the assumptions.
And, if you believe that wisdom lies in finding your fundamental assumptions (let’s call them “preferences,” let’s call them “values,” let’s call them “mores”) and sticking to them, well, that won’t work either.
Life is vast. The Wise Man is small, but even within the Wise Man there are contradictions. The Wise Man, by application of reason, attempts to isolate his internal contradictions and, by application of his vaunted reason, right his worldview until he is one piece, straight and true.
That is the Wise Man’s folly and that is why wisdom fails. You can’t be one piece, straight and true. Your mind cannot be without contradictions. There is no pure worldview.
You shouldn’t even want it.
Purity is a myth.
Consistency is folly.
Wisdom has failed.
Radical Boy Manifesto