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Perhaps we should reflect more about the
nature of ignorance in order to understand more about the true
nature of knowing.
Sharon Janis in her excellent Spirituality For Dummies
suggests that;
There are two kinds of ignorance: positive ignorance and
negative ignorance:
* Positive ignorance is when you don't
know and you know you don't know. This awareness keeps you open
and receptive to divine guidance. Knowing you don't know brings
you to your knees before God and helps you to enter a humble and
prayerful state.
* Negative ignorance is when you don't
know, but you think you do know. This is really a double ignorance
that closes the door to your own divine guidance. Thinking you know
when you don't really know is like traveling to a party on the
other side of town with no idea of where the house is, but being
too proud and stubborn to admit it and ask directions. Negative
ignorance makes you drive around in circles and miss the party of
spiritual jubilation!
Sharon also includes the Zen koan;
Once, a university professor went to
visit a famous Zen master. While the master quietly served tea, the
professor talked on and on about all the intricacies of Zen
philosophy. The master poured the visitor's cup to the brim and
then kept pouring. The professor watched the overflowing cup for
several moments, until he could no longer restrain himself, and
finally blurted out, "It's overfull! No more will go in!"
"You are like this cup," the master
replied, "How can I show you Zen until you first empty your
cup?"
I have suggested that a useful model of knowing for educators
should be a balance of three kinds - 'I' knowing, 'WE' knowing
and 'IT' knowing - following Ken Wilber's categories -
http://www.sunwalk.org.uk/_sgt/m7m2_1.htm As teachers we also need
at least a simple 'taxonomy of ignorance' in order to gain a
basis for evaluation and developing a direction for learning. Of
course ignorance is an insufficiency of the abilities pertinent to
each of the I,WE and IT voices but perhaps we can go further in
understanding what learning-teaching implications there are for
profiles of ignorance. What do you think?
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