The more I learn

the less I know.

Maybe you've heard that line before. Intellectual property aside, I'm borrowing it for the time being to make a point.

My point is: The only way I can make points is because I know things. )Whether my knowledge is faulty or not is a completely different inquiry.) I come to know things by mastering them. My mind has grappled with them and struggled until dawn with their intricacies. And while I have conquered this wild knowledge, I have come away damaged.

My mind's hip is out.

The more I learn, the more inadequate my learning feels. The more I explore, the more wilderness I find. And this is only in my personal field of study! If there's this much to be absorbed in the liberal arts, what kind of boundless Elysium is to be found in science and engineering as well?

So I find myself crippled. Timid. Afraid to display my knowledge for fear that some other Wild Knowledge will dispute me and render me inadequate.

This is the challenge of Academia. To speak out into uncertainty, bringing light and taunting what lives in the darkness of ignorance.