In Praise of Stupidity

You can find the synopsis of this episode, further notes, and a convenient place to ⁠⁠comment ⁠here⁠⁠⁠. I will also periodically update my thoughts on this episode's content at that same link. The key points in this "speaking": Everyone has a defining insecurity. Our lives circle around these insecurities through exclusion. To be a human being is to be in direct and dangerous contact with time. Are we more afraid of finitude or eternity? Perhaps there is something beneath time and eternity that makes this duality possible. But this something can only be sensed, not conceptualized. We build identities based on exclusion so we don't have to dissolve into everything. Just as every person excludes traits from their identity—from fear and insecurity— so do professions. In academia, that excluded fear/ characteristic is stupidity. Lately, I've been wanting to embody this shadow. Not stupidity as the opposite of intelligence, but rather as a spaciousness of mind, a wide unknowing. Even though this blankness may seem to be a kind of stupidity, it's in fact the key to using intelligence (as a tool) effectively, holding paradoxes, and being willing to change your mind. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future topics, you can email me at [email protected]. You can also check out my website at ⁠⁠www.sondrawriter.com⁠⁠, where you'll find my essays and links to ⁠⁠my memoir⁠⁠. Music is L'épisode cévenol by Circus Marcus, from the Free Music Archive. License type: CC BY-NC.