Love and Knowledge: Less or More (II)

All these are products of a simple logic. That is, simple results produced from certain simple assumptions. Perhaps too much oxygen does not hurt the lungs, or cause it to explode. Perhaps there is a limit, and when that limit is surpassed, then the human lungs tranform into a new form which is larger, more comprehensive and with greater capabilities. This way, human lungs can perhaps transform into something that is more developed than the normal human lungs. And that does not necessarily require a physical proof, or that it has to take place like that physically. What is required is to evaluate the idea and whether it can take place ideally or not. Similarly, too much knowledge can force the human mind to a certain extent; however, perhaps there is a limit too, and when that limit is surpassed as well (perhaps, only some few can do that, who knows), that person’s mind and brain capacity go beyond the normal human mind and brain capacities.

So you would like to see more, but seeing her more makes you feel worse. That’s a two sided situation. And both feelings can exist in the same person at the same time. And this situation continues both while seeing her, and while being away from her. When you’re with her, you would want to look at her more. But as you look more, you would feel greater pains in your heart and in your mind. Then you would want to stop; you would want less. You would wish not looking at her, not seeing her. This way, you would think, and you would hope that your feelings will weaken, therefore your pain and suffering will lessen. But it wouldn’t work. You would still feel the pain while you’re not seeing her, and then you would want to see her, even for a second. It’s like being addicted to drug. You would say that you will see her for a very short time, and that will be the last time, but with that very short time, you would reverse the whole process back to the beginning. Then you would want more again. There is no end in this. There is no end to this vicious cycle. To end this, you would need to end all things and bring the end; that is, death. That would be the only way out of the circle, only way to salvation. That is the breaking up of your hopes and your relations with the circle. And for you, the salvation lies outside the circle anymore.

Knowledge has this two-sided situation as well. If you are really running behind knowledge, behind reality or truth, that is to say, if you don’t have the answers ready at hand, or if you didn’t take them for granted from certain units, such as religion, tradition, custom, ideology, culture, etc., then the process of acquiring knowledge would bring out such two-sided situation for you as well.

The process of acquiring knowledge means the development of both chaos and the orderliness of one’s mind. If the orderliness of the mind is not satisfactory, this pushes one to continue acquiring more knowledge. This way, the person thinks that he/she will be able to overcome two things: 1) That he/she will be able to overcome the chaos in his/her mind and that he/she will be able to establish a new order in his/her mind. 2) That he/she will be able to find the knowledge of the truth, or reality. This way, the person thinks that he/she will reach to wholeness, completeness, totality, or the knowledge of the whole. But on the other hand, acquiring more knowledge does not remove the chaos, disorder from one’s mind. That is, the state of disorder does not reach to a state of wholeness.

Just like it is not possible to achieve peace of mind and orderliness of the mind via acquiring the knowledge of the whole or becoming one with the whole, similarly it is not possible to reach to what we call love, the feeling of love, and what it is, etc. Both of these – love and knowledge – lead people to the same end, to the same dilemmatic end. And in that way they are similar to each other.

In the final analysis, where does this circle of “hunger for knowledge but not being able to know” lead people?

1) Either the person admits his/her epistemological helplessness and weakness, and accepts living life this way – in a state of ignorance.

2) Or, the person breaks this circle one day, and he/she knows one day. This way, he/she achieves peace of mind.

3) Or finally, the person tries another way, other than breaking the circle by overcoming the dilemma of wanting to know and not being able to know. In order to do this, he/she wants to go beyond the unknowable. He/she approaches one of the unknowns that stands in front of him/her. What he/she thinks is to confront death (the unknown) and go beyond that. This way, he/she thinks that he/she will go beyond the unknown and finally know things, see things and understand things. What he/she does at that point is not simply taking his/her life. Instead, it is reaching to the state of knowing. This way, he/she removes the curtain between the real and non-real, and reaches to the knowledge of the reality.