Knowing is knowing and not knowing is not knowing. This sentence comes from "The Analects"
If you know, just say you know. If you don't know, admit that you don't know. This is true wisdom.
The "Biography of Zhang Shi" in the "Book of Han" records an incident: Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty inspected Shanglin Garden where wild animals were kept, and asked Shanglin Wei about the number of wild animals in the garden. After more than ten questions, the Wei could not tell them all. answer. Emperor Wen was quite dissatisfied, thinking that this captain was incompetent, and planned to remove him from his post and appoint him as a "stingy man" who was fluent in answering questions. After Zhang Shizhi's persuasion, the matter was abandoned.
Of course, Lieutenant Shang Lin could not answer all the emperor's questions, which can be said to be "bureaucratic" and failed to perform his duties. But he doesn't answer recklessly or brag, which still has merit. This reminds me of people's attitude towards things. The sage Confucius once said: "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, which is knowing." "The Analects of Confucius: For Politics" also said: "A gentleman is like a gap in what he doesn't know." ("Zilu") Its basic spirit is to seek truth from facts: What you know is what you know, how much you know is how much you know, and what you don’t know is just don’t know, so don’t lie. This can be called "knowledge".
Confucius’s thoughts were worldly and focused on reality and human affairs. For example, he doesn't know anything about gods, ghosts, and ghosts, so he "doesn't talk about monsters, power, chaos, and gods" ("Shu Er"). He believes that if we can't handle interpersonal relationships well in real life, how can we engage in supernatural things? Confucius ignored and avoided discussing things about gods and monsters, which meant that he neither affirmed their existence nor their non-existence.
A great wisdom like Confucius still advocates that "what you know is known, and what you don't know is unknown" and adopts an attitude of ignoring things you don't know. Then of course people below average intelligence cannot know everything. Except for things involving gods, monsters, and ghosts, admitting that you know something and something you don’t know is an honest attitude and the smartest attitude. Only if you "don't know" something can you "know something". Lu Duan, a minister of the Song Dynasty, was said by Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty to be "muddleheaded in small matters but not in big matters." This was a good example of abandoning "little wisdom" for "great wisdom." In the "Book of Han", Zhang Shizhi's defense of Shang Linwei was based on this point, which was understood by Emperor Han Wen.
Ding Zhaozhong, the world-famous physicist and Chinese-American who won the Nobel Prize in Physics, expressed "I don't know" about many questions in an interview with CCTV's "Son of the East". At the previous stage, I heard that when he was giving an academic report to teachers and students of China Southern Airlines, he responded with "three questions and three questions" when faced with classmates' questions: "Do you think humans can find dark matter and antimatter in space?" "I don't know." "You Do you think the scientific experiments you are engaged in have any economic value?" "I don't know." "Can you talk about the development direction of physics in the next 20 years?" "I don't know." This surprised all the students present, but soon won warm applause from the audience. Perhaps, when some people say "I don't know", it is often seen as a sign of ignorance and ignorance, but Mr. Ding's "I don't know" reflects a kind of humility as a person and a rigorous attitude of a scientist, which makes people awe-inspiring. respect.
The ancients said: "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, it is knowing." The deeper the knowledge, the heavier the unknown; the more knowledgeable, the more open-minded. As experts and scholars, we should not only honestly admit “don’t know” about things we don’t know, but also dare to say “don’t know”. Feynman, a modern American physicist, said: Scientists always deal with problems and uncertainties. When a scientist does not know the answer to a question, he simply does not know; when he has a rough guess, his answer is uncertain; even when he is confident about his answer, he will remain open to doubts. There is room. For scientists, it is necessary for scientific development to admit their ignorance and leave room for their conclusions to be questioned. Only by adhering to such a scientific attitude can scholars continue to "investigate things to gain knowledge", gain new understanding, and reach new realms. As the saying goes, "It is a shame for a scholar to know nothing," its original intention is to encourage scholars to keep exploring and making progress. "Do I know anything? I am ignorant. Someone asked me a question, but it was all empty. I knocked on both ends and exhausted it." Even in the professional field, the kind of "expert" who claims to be omniscient or behaves as omniscient , not only his knowledge but also his character are questionable.
In fact, Professor Ding Zhaozhong does not need to say "I don't know." For example, you can use some very professional terminology to fool them, you can say some irrelevant words to prevaricate them, and you can even say to the students tactfully: "These questions are too profound for you, and they can't be explained clearly in one or two sentences." "However, the Nobel Prize winner chose the most honest and candid way of answering, and his expression was natural and sincere. There was no pretense, no pretense, no pretense, and no "selling out." Professor Ding's admission that he did not know not only did not damage his image as a scientist, but also highlighted his rigorous scientific attitude, which is awe-inspiring.
Similar to Ting Zhaozhong's "three questions and three ignorances" is Pavarotti's performance at a large concert. He just reached the climax of his singing, but suddenly stopped. There was an uproar, and even the band stopped. Pavarotti frankly said that he had forgotten the lyrics, asked for everyone's forgiveness, and hoped that everyone would give him another chance to perform. After a period of silence, the audience burst into warm applause. Afterwards, someone told Pavarotti: "You can lip-sync without having to admit that you forgot the words.
I believe that the audience will definitely think that the microphone is broken and will not suspect you at all. Pavarotti smiled slightly: "If there is a next time, I will also admit my mistake." Because the truth will be known sooner or later, and it will have a greater impact on my reputation.
Contrary to Mr. Ding, some people, especially individual officials, often behave like "know-it-alls" and "experts" when faced with many problems. They go to the grassroots and do research when the situation is unclear and Giving instructions, making demands, and making decisions before things are clear, showing an attitude of "arrogance to everyone" and "only I am right." As everyone knows, some instructions, requirements, and decisions are sometimes inconsistent with the actual situation at the grassroots level, and some are even far from the topic. If the grassroots level continues to follow this, the consequences can be imagined.
Everyone with common sense knows that people are not sages and sages, and it is impossible to know it from birth. The key to scholarship and the foundation of administration lies in seeking truth from facts, being serious and conscientious, and pursuing diligently without any falsehood. Don't act as a "prophet" when it comes to things you don't know, let alone think that you can "promote" to know them, and don't think that once you become a leader, you will have a say in all issues. This is the minimum requirement for being a scholar, an official, and even a human being. Nowadays, some "experts" and "scholars" always like to talk irresponsibly about things they don't know much about. The result is that "expert opinions" are not "professional" and make people confused and incomprehensible. As a result, the influence of some "experts" in people's minds is weakening. In contrast, it makes people feel that as an academic master, Ting Zhaozhong "three questions and three ignorances" is very valuable and alarming for scholars. Knowing means knowing, not knowing means not knowing. This kind of calmness and honesty is not only what scientists, artists and leading cadres should have, but is also indispensable for us ordinary people.
Marxism believes that human knowledge is obtained through direct experience and indirect experience, and is not directly related to the size of official position. The reason why individual officials "know what they do when they are promoted", "promoted to become knowledgeable", and "have strong abilities" is actually caused by bureaucracy, and they mistakenly believe that only in this way can they show their "level", "ability" and "smartness". place", so that they will not be confused with ordinary people, and they are indeed "high". The practice of these officials to "know what they are doing" offends the people and disgusts them with "small things", and brings losses to the people and the country "big things"! Only by guarding against "knowing after promotion" can individual officials understand themselves correctly; can they establish a realistic attitude of "knowing what they know and not knowing what they don't know"; only then can they pay attention to learning and strengthen learning, from not knowing to knowing, and from knowing little to knowing. More; only in this way can we continuously improve our work style, practice the "Three Represents", and better contribute to the people and the country. Otherwise, always thinking that "it is known after rising" will block the way of improvement and advancement, and ultimately cause endless harm.