We don’t know what we don’t know.
That’s a term I’ve heard several times recently and I can’t quite remember what the context has been, whether it was in some historical or scientific matter. Doesn’t really matter. The words speak volumes without context.
This not knowing what we don’t know always lingers in my mind when I think on most subjects, tempering my own certainty and making me question the supposed certainty of others. I am generally suspicious of those with absolute certainty, remembering that there are very few things in this world of which we have absolute knowledge or absolute truth. We can only truly know how we react to and see our own little slice of the world.
And that thought is at the heart of this painting, Clarification, a 16″ by 26″ piece on paper that is part of my ongoing Principle Gallery show.
I see this piece as being about the clarity that comes from recognizing your own truth, who and what you really are, for that is the extent of our real knowledge. Knowing that is all that that we know lets us put aside judgments of others or focusing on events that we cannot know or control. This clarity allows us to focus on the moment that we’re personally in at the present time because that ultimately is all that we can fully know and appreciate. It’s something we don’t do enough in our lives— appreciate the now.
That is the message I see here…
Redtree Times 