2021-12-03

Unknown Unknowns

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know. And... it is the latter category that tend to be the difficult ones." - Donald Rumsfeld

Probably the most important (meta-)discovery through my exposure to the teachings of Chabad Hasidism, which I encountered through my totally unexpected transformation through my no less unexpected turmoil, is a whole world of things I didn't know I didn't know. This newly discovered "light" has made me realize so clearly that I was in the "darkness" and I wasn't aware of this very fact.

Since I made this discovery I've decided to share this "light" with other individuals and collectives I've come in touch with. The reactions I get from them are not especially encouraging; I have the impression that many of them don't understand what I mean, that is, they seem to remain unaware of what they don't know.

One of my main "battlefields" is Facebook, which is a kind of huge collective virtual mental prison. I'm giving up my hope, though I should never do so, of making at least my Facebook "friends" realize that what they think they are and what they think reality are actually illusions. It's even so painful to me to read what most of them post personally.

When I resumed my personal use of Facebook in order to start using it for business purposes three and a half years ago, I was naive enough to expect that I would be able to experience meaningful dialogs with at least several people. But I was totally wrong. Facebook has even worsened as a collective virtual mental prison in comparison with what it used to be when I first used it several years ago for a short period of time.

In spite of all these frustrations I continue to share public posts on Facebook though they receive few or now responses for a very simple reason. I write for what must be a small number of like-minded people so that they may not feel lonely. Such people seem to be exceptions even among what few "friends" I have on Facebook.