In some ways, the Socratic approach to wisdom is not about gaining knowledge, but rather shedding our preconceptions about what we know or what wisdom we think we have. Through systematic dialogue and inquiry, Socrates shed light on the holes in his interlocutors’ knowledge. He concluded that the oracle Pythia must have been correct in claiming that he was the wisest of the Greeks simply because he seemed to be the only one around who knew how much wisdom he lacked. Meanwhile, all of these so-called experts didn’t know how much they didn’t know.
A 20th century Zen teacher, named Shunryu Suzuki, made a similar claim:
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s mind there are few 1
The more we think we know, the less likely we are to explore new possibilities, new ways of understanding our area of expertise. This goes for self-knowledge as well. The illusion describes the way we all underestimate how much we will change in the future. Dan Gilbert has some great research on this, highlighted in one of his excellent TED talks. As he puts it, we are “works in progress that mistakenly think they’re finished.”
As we get older, our world seems to become more familiar. We know more about how things work, making us less likely to look at things with a beginner’s mind. But, anyone who does creative work knows the value of letting go of preconceptions, of being playful, of having childlike wonder. As the poet Goethe said,
“Every object well-contemplated opens a new organ of perception in us”
Think of how an infant sees the world: everything is new, nothing has labels or names or rules. A child can see a magic wand in a twig, a cave in a pillow fort. Over time we can lose the sense of openness and creativity that comes with not “knowing” so much.
This has implications for our happiness and wellbeing. Research on self-actualization has shown that continued freshness of appreciation is one of the defining characteristics of the most self-actualized, happiest, most fulfilled people.2
So, the question is, can we cultivate beginner’s mind?
One answer to this question is mindfulness practice.
Further Reading
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For a deeper dive into the concept of beginner’s mind in Zen and Early Buddhism, check out Doug’s Dharma