What is Known About the Unknown
The google definition of transcending states “to go beyond the range or limits of” (dictionary.com). In my opinion, the range of limits is set by the laws of nature which are still not understood in science. The human cognition limits itself based upon previous experience and it’s the evaluation of these experiences, the output, which is a concept of what “could be” the final results. However, there are variables that humans cannot conceptually account for, thus our evaluations of the future are by and large inaccurate.
I was recently listening to a podcast about knowledge and the main thesis was that no knowledge can be created more than that of which we know now, it can only be revised to better the knowledge. What interests me is that knowledge has a base and the path towards becoming more intelligent builds off this base or groundwork of knowledge, which compares to the concept of building blocks. Our perceived limitation then are solely based on the knowledge in which we know, that isn’t to say there is knowledge that we do not know of and if we didn’t have that well then we would know everything, which is implausible.
Knowledge can be best described as a vast range of mountain peaks. As you look from the bottom (learning), the mountain seems to be the highest mountain in sight (knowledge). As you traverse this mountain you gain experience of action, thus without action nothing can be learned and knowledge becomes stagnate. Once one reaches the top these concepts become knowledge and our intelligence grows, however you notice that there is a larger mountain in the distance and thus you realized that more knowledge is to be learned. The mountain peaks seen are an analogy for our perceptions of what is known. What we know we can see (known knowledge) and what we don’t know we cannot see (top of the mountain). There then is this idea of limitation that one only has limits based upon what he or she can conceptualize, in this scenario visualize, because this is known to them and the unknown becomes ignorance and lack thereof knowledge. Then where does our limits lie?
Our limits lie within the human cognition of known knowledge. We set our own limits in our mind based on what we call knowledge, however its thorough knowledge that we break the barriers of limitation to become intelligent to see there is in actuality no limit. Only the laws of nature is what separates from achieving what isn’t knowledgeable.
We infer this knowledge through modes of the senses (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting), however our sense do not create knowledge. Reading is one way a person may try to achieve intelligence. Reading opens doors to conceptualize knowledge, however I believe that it is action, respectively motion, is what ultimately surmount the learning experience. For example, you can read about how to run, but only when one puts this knowledge into action (climbs the mountain peaks), does one gain intelligence. Nonetheless, my opinions are amateur come from a lack of experience in reading literature.
When I first begin ultra-running I couldn’t conceptualize how a person could run 30 miles. The thought of this made me sick because I could barely run 10 miles, however I knew through experience, that if one is able to continuously practice one will be able to better ones self. So that’s what I did. I learned that these number, or miles, are just limitations based on perception. I found that the further I ran the more the number stood for nothing, but more importantly, a conceptual limitation. To maintain symmetry, it was like standing on top of the peak that we though was the highest peak of knowledge only to realize there are more peaks.
If we are able to conceive that our limits are perceptions formulated by the human conscious, we can also conclude that knowledge exposes these so called limits and thus limits are solely defined by the laws of nature, an area which humans are still not knowledgeable in. Thus, there is no use for the word transcending.
Perspective
