Thursday 20 June 2013

I'll never be a Bohr (because you make me feel so Jung?)

As the school year draws to a close for younger daughter, I find myself wandering through the deserted classrooms as her school-mates argue over entrances and exits for the closing ceremony's play. (Younger daughter will play a gangster's wife, but said gangster failed to show up today. Uh-oh.)

In the math and science classroom, the teacher has plastered the wall with various quotes from scientists and mathematicians. I am surprised and delighted by this gem from Niels Bohr:

An expert is a person who has found out by his own painful experience all the mistakes that one can make in a very narrow field.

My own narrow field is family history in which, this quote clearly tells me, I am nowhere near being an expert. As can be seen by my posts on the subject (just try putting "family history" or "genealogy" in the search field), it may seem as if I've made every mistake in the book -- and several more than once. However, the older I get, I don't seem to acquire knowledge so much as the realization of how very little I know. Therefore, I think there are many, many mistakes ahead of me.

I only wish they were all in the narrow field of family history.

In an article about which I'm trying to get the courage to write a post, an artist claims that Carl Jung said it was only when you reach 50 or 60 that you know your authentic self.

I'm not sure whether to look forward to this, or to be very, very afraid...

2 comments:

JoeinVegas said...

Look at all of the 'learning experiences' that you have to look forward to!

Persephone said...

Yeah. Neat.