How often do you feel "stupid"?

[Angrboda]

There's a distinctinction between being stupid and being wrong. A critical thinking club I joined in the past year asked the question of whether I recalled any recent time that I had recognized that I had been wrong. Their conclusion was that if I didn't, then I was probably not a critical thinker. But they neglect the possibility that maybe it's because I'm usually right, or guarded in opinions where caution and further research is advisable. It reminded me of a series of Youtube videos which was like one of those books where your choices determine the course of the story, and the series title was, "Are you a rational debater?" The first question in the series was, "Can you imagine anything which would change your mind?" Being prescient, and snarky, I answered no, and was greeted with the self-satisfied smarm of this woman telling me I was not a rational debater. When I asked this Youtube poster if there was anything which would change her mind about me not being a rational debater for believing thusly, she said no. I made a few vain attempts to point out that she had constructed a variant of the liar's paradox, but to no avail. She just couldn't comprehend that having a dogmatically unfalsifiable position on the question of falsification itself was itself not a rational position. "Oh well."

Anyway, as a Taoist, I try to embrace my inner stupid. So in some ways I feel it less, as I'm happy it's a part of me. Life is about being human, not simply being smart or right.



The sage stays behind, thus he is ahead.
He is detached, thus at one with all.
Through selfless action, he attains fulfillment.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Ch. 7



"I'm tired of hanging on to you / I mean it this time." — Marti Jones, Back Of The Line