Lack of my knowledge
October 5th
There is an old Ottoman-era minaret in the town of Eger in north-central Hungary. There is a sign by the door of the minaret inviting you to climb it up (for a small fee, of course) and warning that there are 98 steps to the top. I passed on that opportunity. The town itself is a delight — old churches and townhouses and a maze of streets preserving the layout from centuries past. The town is full of monuments and characteristic architecture from Hapsburg / Austro-Hungarian times. And there is that minaret, right in the middle of the town. Of course, I know that for centuries Ottoman rule extended over vast areas of Central Europe, but that knowledge is very dry and superficial — it starts and ends on the fact that Ottoman viziers ruled those areas a long time ago. There is nothing more I could say on that subject.
Today I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, I figured about 3 hours should be enough to get a good idea about the collections. I was wrong. I spend 6 hours there (with just two breaks for a smoke) and I could easily spend another 6 hours there tomorrow. And then the day after tomorrow. And then I will be just scratching the surface of the cornucopia of amazing works of art there. As I was going from a gallery to a gallery, a thought lodged inside my head — I know the history of art well. And of course, I recognized the names and styles on display there. But there were so many other names of the artists I have never seen before. And splendid works of art made by them are on display to my astonishment.
That leads to the point I want to make. I know so little… I mean, I know a lot, but that is not enough. And I have no clue how to change it. I already read a lot and all the time. I go from subject to subject to get a good understanding of the basics of that said subject before moving on. I spend my time before falling asleep, not on scrolling through social media but on scrolling through Wikipedia. My appetite for learning is insatiable and only growing with every new thing I learn. And that still is not enough. I don’t want to compare my knowledge against the others. I just want to be satisfied with myself. And that will never happen — from a trip I took this week, I already made notes to learn about particulars of Hungarian history and some names of artists for future research. And piling on new knowledge that will never stop.
Also, I am not sure if I want it ever to stop.
