The French philosopher, mathematician, and naturalist René Descartes (1596-1650) is often quoted: “I think, therefore I exist.” Less frequently recalled are the words a thousand years older: “I err therefore I am.” They were said by the philosopher, theologian and bishop in Roman North Africa, Aurelius Augustine (354-430). Seemingly similar phrases in form, but what a difference in meaning.
The first habitually reflects the rationalistic approach, the purpose of which is to increase knowledge about the material world. At its best, it is the scientific method of cognition that gave us technology, in particular the Internet and the computer on which I am writing these lines. At its worst, it is a distortion, where the developed intellect is so fanatically fascinated by the process of knowledge that it scornfully rejects everything that cannot be held in its hands, put in a chromatograph or treated with acid. Only that which can be comprehended makes sense, they say. The rest is lyricism, fantasy, nonsense. But since the world around us is much more complex, dynamic and unpredictable than any of its most sophisticated representations, man, limited only by his intellect, is doomed to regularly fall face down, suffering from his own imperfection. Sooner or later reality will emasculate a mind that claims omniscience, omnipotence, and omnipresence.
Augustine’s words make an important correction that can bring harmony within. To truly be alive, it is of course important to think critically. But it is even more important to recognize the existence of something that the mind can never fully comprehend. Which, however, does not deny, but rather encourages relentless exploration of unknown territories. And it is this factory defect, this fundamental vulnerability, this inexorable imperfection of the human being that creates the difference of potentialities between what is and what can be. It is as if reality invites us to make a leap from point A to point B. That is, life is the endless correction of past mistakes and the generation of future mistakes. For without imperfection there is no being.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
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