Acknowledging foolishness
There's something I've been doing lately and that's allowing myself to be a fool. I was thinking about how good it is to let oneself be foolish sometimes, to admit our own ignorance, to accept that we just don't know and that we must ask those stupid questions at some point. I think, contradictorily, that's the best way to get rid of our own foolishness. I mean, you're foolish for a moment until you eventually learn from it. But if you don't allow yourself to be a fool, and if you don't accept it, then you will never learn and you will be stuck there forever.
Being a fool is the first step to stop being a fool. And you can't skip that step, I think. You can pretend you're not, but that won't make the foolishness go away. I don't believe in that phrase that says "fake it till you make it". Instead I think the phrase should be "fake it till you delude yourself into believing you make it". If you fake being brave, for example, you will not be brave, you will just act as if you are and it will look like you are brave when no bravery is required at all. But when true bravery is required, when courage is needed, you will fail, because you were never brave. One must recognize and accept one's own faults in order to change them, not pretend that they are simply not there. It's not a matter of pretending to be brave, or strong, or wise, or whatever.
I would be foolish instead, I think that's better, at least for me. I think we all have to be a fool at some point. Some are lucky and do their clumsy things when they are children, do things wrong, make mistakes, ask stupid questions, live in complete freedom, they grow up and learn enough to stop being afraid of being one. Some grow up and have to do clumsy things as adults, because they didn't have the freedom to do them when they were younger, they learn too. And finally some simply live their lives without saying or doing anything clumsy, they were fools all their lives.
But no one was born knowing. I think the worst thing we can do is delay this process, or pretend we don't need to go through it. So, the question is not whether we are ignorant or not, because we know that as humans we have limitations that make us to be so sometimes, the real question is whether we are ready to recognize it and to do something to change it. We have to accept that not everything is black and white, and it's not about whether we are "fools" or "wise", or anything else really. Everyone is foolish at times, and wise at other times. It's a matter of having the will to accept our faults and try to change them.
It is okay to be a fool sometimes.
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