How do we come to terms with the fact that we “don’t know”?

We live in an age where a simple search instantly brings up the “answer.”
But what really matters isn’t “knowing the answer”—
“how to accept the parts of yourself that you don’t know.”

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A Time When Not Knowing Was “Shameful”

“You don’t even know that?”
When you were a child, weren’t you afraid of being told that, so you pretended to know something you didn’t?

The mindset that finding something out is “embarrassing” remains deeply ingrained, both in schools and in the workplace.

But is that really the case?

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Precisely Because AI “Knows Everything” Today

AI systems like ChatGPT provide us with answers at an overwhelming speed and with an immense amount of knowledge.
But if we get too used to this—

• We feel anxious when there’s something we “don’t know”
• We get impatient, wanting to “know the answer right away”
• We lose sight of the value in “not knowing”

In this way, we tend to eliminate “not knowing”.

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Because we don’t know, we think. Because we think, we become ourselves.

The state of “not knowing” is the gateway to thought.

• Since we can’t find the answer, we try formulating hypotheses on our own
• We read books to borrow others’ perspectives
• Sometimes, we let it be and wait for the right moment

It is precisely during these moments of “not knowing” that our own questions and values begin to take root.

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Practicing Acceptance of the Unknown

To gradually accept the state of “not knowing”—

• The courage to say, “I don’t know”
• Time to form your own thoughts without looking things up
• The sense that it’s okay to be wrong

In this way, I want to be the kind of person who holds onto “questions” rather than “answers.”

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In Closing

Knowledge is important.
But more than that, I believe people who can accept what they don’t know are strong.

Instead of being afraid of what we “don’t know,”
it’s precisely because we “don’t know” that it’s interesting.
If we can view the world in this way, life might become a little easier.