Making Ways

The Desirable Unknown

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In our shared future, there are potentials we know are possible, but there are also unknowns, potentials we have not yet considered. The distinction between the knowable and the unknowable is at the heart of philosophy. 

In Chinese philosophy, for the Taoist, the universe is fundamentally unknowable and yet, holding the paradox, we can come to know it better and glimpse the Way in experiences Japanese traditions call satori. 

In more European oriented philosophy, Socrates is famous for the idea that 'all we can know is that we do not know' though his life is itself a way through the unknown.

The reason this paradox matters and is at the heart of our search for meaning, is because within the parameter of the unknown, there are unknowns which are desirable and those which are not. Here we find way towards discussing what might be the desirable unknowns for our living planet, and in so doing, ride the paradox of trying to know what is unknowable, or what is only knowable if it occurs.