Sunday, November 8, 2015

Turning on the Car and Knowing that the Car is Running

I stand at the door with my keys in my hand. Then, when I find the right key, I put it in the door and turn my wrist to unlock it. I pull the key out, open the door, sit down in the car seat, then shut the door. Then comes the moment of truth. I take the key and put it in the ignition, but before I turn my wrist I hesitate: will this work? It's worked every time before, but what about this time? How do I know it will work? Will this small action of mine actually start a chain of events that will turn on the car?

I hope that it will, so I act in accordance with my beliefs: I turn my wrist and, sure enough, the car starts. 

Now, as I sit here in the car seat and listen to the engine, I wonder what goes on under the hood. I'm not a car expert, and I can't even see under the hood--I mean, I'm sitting in the driver's seat, and the hood is closed. So of course I can't see the engine or any thing else that's going on. But I can hear it, and I can feel it. So, even though I can't see what's going on, I still say that I know that the whole system is working. I know that my car is running, but that doesn't mean that I have a perfect knowledge of the entire car--actually, I don't need a complete and full knowledge of the entire system to know that it works. 

And besides--can I even have a full and perfect knowledge? Isn't there even something that the experts themselves don't know and about which they debate? Who are these experts? Well, they're human, just like me. If I wanted to, I could be like one of them, but it would take a lot of work on my part, a lot of learning, and a lot of training. But I could do it, if I wanted to.

But how do I know that? Well, it seems obvious--though I must admit that even on this point I don't have a perfect knowledge. Yet my belief in that potential becomes a partial knowledge as I continue to act on it. And as I act, my knowledge grows greater and greater until it becomes that of an expert. Though even as an "expert," I will still have much to learn. 

There's nothing confusing about any of this.

1 comment:

  1. I adore cars; and this analogy made so much sense :) Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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