The More I Know, the Less I Understand...

There was a song by Don Henley called “Heart of the Matter” in which he says, “The More I Know, the Less I Understand” and I thought that this was a fantastic line.

It seems that in life, we are always bombarded by information. This starts from a young age when we are taught everything from our parents and family. We are taught such important things such as religious and political beliefs, racial profiles, who to love, and who to hate. We never question what we are being taught because we are too young, and the people who are teaching us this are the Sun, Moon and Stars to us.

Most of us grow up and never look into what we have been taught. We simply accept the lies and untruths that we have been taught, and eventually pass it on to our kids. I mean, who really checks out other religions to see if the one we are being taught it the right one? There are HUNDREDS of religions out there, so why do we seem to think that the one that is being forced on us is the correct one? Yet, we grow up defending these beliefs like they are our own, when in truth, they were subjected on us and we had little or no choice to believe these things. Then we go ahead and “force” these beliefs on others and all without really knowing what else is out there, from another point of view.

I mean, did you ever really ask why it is you believe what you believe? Chances are, it is either identical to that of your family, or opposite of it, because of your family… Make sense?

Well, the more I tried to question what it is that I REALLY believe, the harder it is to make decisions on ANYTHING!! I don’t want to be closed-minded, and I certainly want to welcome all information, so that I can make a realistic assessment. -But this being said, it takes MUCH longer to really accept something, or draw a conclusion to it, if at all…

I have now added much more “grey” area to my life that I now no longer NEED to have an answer for. In short, my brain no longer needs a definitive answer for everything, and I can safely say “I don’t really care” and mean it. I am actually thankful that I don’t have to be called upon for tough dilemmas that plague society today and make tough decisions on these because I simply would be the wrong person for that job.

So now, the more I know, the less I understand…Just like the song. This is especially true when trying to understand people, which is another story in itself.

So in the end, I think that I just sit back and make my observations with small reminders that what I am really seeing is only part of the story and try to keep a small space open for what really could be the “real story”. –After all, who am I to make the final assessment?

Oh, and the final lyrics to that Don Henley song? They follow the words, "The more I know, the less I understand" with "all the things I thought I'd figured out, I have to learn again..."

Touche...