Words: T.S. Elliot “…When We Do Not Know Enough…”

We can never know everything.  But, when we do not know …when we have moments of doubt or confusion …or when we simply do not know enough —

Do we ignore the unknown?  Or, do we pause to wonder?

Do we assume we know?  Or, do we take a moment to question?

Do we guess the answers?  Or, do we stop to ask?

And do we recognize — in that moment of not knowing — that what we perceive as our options and the responds we choose, tells as as much about our emotions as our knowledge?

"The vast accumulations of knowledge
 -- or at least of information --
deposited by the nineteenth century
have been responsible for an equally vast ignorance. 

When there is so much to be known,
when there are so many fields of knowledge
in which the same words are
used with different meanings,

when every one knows a little 
about a great many things,
it becomes increasingly difficult
for anyone to know whether he knows
what he is talking about or not.

And when we do not know,
or when we do not know enough,
we tend always to substitute
emotions for thoughts.... 

Not only all knowledge, but all feeling, 
is in perception."

~~ T.S. Eliot, The Perfect Critic, The Sacred Wood, 1921.

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T. S. (Thomas Stearns) Eliot
(1888–1965)

Husband, teacher, philosopher
Poet, playwright, publisher
Social and literary critic
Received Nobel prize in Literature – 1948

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