Confusion Is a Muse

notes.eatonphil.com

22 points·sebg··4 comments

> But beyond "go along to get along", another reason we don't pursue what we're confused about is because we're embarrassed that we're confused in the first place.

Well said. I have seen this so many times, and it’s so frustrating. My wife – a Montessori teacher – said she routinely has kids refusing to admit that they don’t know how to do something.

I don’t know how or why the idea that lack of knowledge is shameful came about, but it’s antithetical to growth. Everyone fails. Embrace being wrong, and learn from it.

People often feel a need to feel superior to other people. When you know something that someone else doesn't, you feel superior. Some people take that a step further and make sure the other person knows that they're inferior because of it. It doesn't take a ton of that to make some want to hide that they don't know something.

At some point I heard the phrase: "Always be the dumbest guy in the room."

I've tried to live by this to various extents, and it's kind of a counter-intuitive phrase, but the more I've thought about it the more it's made sense.

For me the phrase encapsulates a few things:

- Surround yourself with people who are 'smarter' than you, you'll learn more

- Be humble. It's hard to learn anything when you're the 'expert' in everything.

- Give yourself and (by example) others permission/space to not know things

This article reminded me of that.

A muse named confusion. Conmusion?

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