Aloha Dear Readers,
Today, I spent all day editing a new book on the development and role of China taken as a collection of newspaper articles written over the course of the last decade. It's a fascinating and deeply involved perspective into a country that remains very much an enigma in the West.
So, today, I am going to post a Mao Zedong quote. Please don't misunderstand: I am not posting this as someone with an ideology. Instead, please recognize that this is my earnest attempt to put into conversation some words from a deeply challenging figure who did much to create the New China which is so often featured in our daily newspapers and new reports.
Just like the pear that Mao speaks of, we need to dig more deeply in an attempt to digest that thing which we strive to understand.
"All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience."
-Mao Zedong
I can't begin to explain my profound disagreement with his assertion that knowledge originates from experience in a single blog. But, as you who have read my tossed-off thoughts each morning have probably surmised, knowledge, for me, only begins in experience. Experience provides an inspiration, not knowledge. Knowledge is gained by pursuing an inspiration down the proverbial rabbit hole.
All kidding aside, knowledge is the product of the kind of disciplined thought that takes serious contemplation, rigor in self analysis, and absolute humility in presentation.
Hopefully, today, when I wake up, I can stay true to this and remember that the experience of anything is just that: a surface.
I want more than the surface; how about you?
Z
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