I remember when I was a child thinking that my Mum and Dad must know everything. There wasn’t anything I was curious about that they couldn’t tell me. It was a genuine shock when I asked my Mum a question one day and she replied “I don’t know”. For years, I struggled by myself, thinking my parents ignorant: I now knew things they did not. It is only now that I realise that true wisdom comes from knowing that really you don’t know anything.
What is interesting to me in this thought is not the arrogant attitude I took in terms of knowledge, but who I chose to listen to.
First off, it was my family: people who I listened to because I have no choice. Then, when I realised they were empty and couldn’t give me anything else, I went about listening to myself, supported through a bit of research. Now I’m happy to listen to everybody and anybody, or even, nobody.
Even more interesting is that my attitude to general media is following a similar path: first it was TV, authority, ‘official’ publications. Then I started doing my own research and became a cynic. Now I don’t know if I want to listen to anybody any more.
