A prayer

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
1

Protect me from knowing what I don’t need to know.

Protect me from even knowing that

there are things to know that

I don’t know.

Protect me from knowing that I decided

not to know about the things

that I decided not to know about.

       AMEN

Lord, Lord, Lord.

Protect me from the consequences

of the above prayer.

                                                                    Doug Adams

                                                                    "Mostly Harmless"

And here we have it. The perfect solution. The trick is to not forget the addition at the end. :laughing:

2

That puts my latest thoughts on thought into better perspective.

Unlearn me everything so I may see the world free from the glasses superimposed on me from birth; so I may see the world as a man, and not as a man raised and taught by men; so I may see the world through virgin eyes.

3

Hi JT,

Funny, but I have been to prayer-meetings in which devout Christians have prayed like this – with other words of course – and put the whole responsibility in the hands of God.

“If I should have known that, you would have told me so in the Bible!”

The thing is that I don’t condemn these people, but am amazed that they don’t see what they are doing. I spoke to someone once and asked him whether he could see that only a fraction of the world’s knowledge is in the Bible. He said, “yes, but it means I don’t need so much knowledge!”

If this was a Sage living in the backwoods, living the simple life, that would be OK, but these people want to be a part of society and earn money. They want to be respected and have jobs and houses. When the people around them tell them that they have had enough of their blinkered worldview, they are “oppressed” – especially if they lose their job because of it.

It is the fact that such statements are inconsequential and trivial that bothers me. The expectation that others should be tolerant is hypocritical, since they themselves are not tolerant enough to understand that they must work for a part of the cake, including using the measure that is recognised. If I don’t want to do that, then I must work at creating conditions in which I can show that my worldview is trustworthy. Instead, it becomes a shouting match.

On the other hand, I also think that there is a lot of “gnosis” out there that I don’t need. But then again, there is a lot that I need to know if only to argue against it. It is a question of being able to communicate ideas and thoughts, concepts and perceptions. Someone who clearly isn’t familiar with what he is criticising should shut up!

:slight_smile:

Shalom

4

Hi Bob,

It is funny isn’t it? It is also sad, and that is why I posted it. Those with no questions find no answers, and while not all questions have answers, only the curious are truly alive. The chains people willingly wear… it is sad.

5

It isn’t just Christians that pray that prayer…
I’d wager we’ve all asked this before.

-Thirst

6

Absolutely thirst, We all sit in Plato’s cave, smiling bravely. I’m always amused when we talk about the “sheeple” as if we aren’t part of the woolly band…