Reason
Sometimes I feel that enlightenment is like it must have been when an ancient ape found out that it can touch the tips of its thumb and index finger. First, the ape delighted in the motion repeating it in astonishment for a few times, then excitedly hop-walked toward its closest mate.
Ape poked the shoulder of its mate with the back of its right hand, and then triumphantly demonstrated the finger feat on the left one, “Hey! Look! I can touch my fingers like this!”
As is obvious from the plethora of species with opposable thumbs that are in existence today, ape’s mate was most probably impressed and inspired.
Like, really imagine if the mate started to argue, “Nah! That’s not possible.” Well, that would not happen — finger feat has the benefit of direct demonstration — but a reply such as, “Nah! I won’t lift a finger,” is pretty plausible.
That’s how it sometimes feels to spread the “good news.” I wonder, whether the unimpressed mate would convince itself that, in the end, touching the tips of its thumb and index finger is, indeed, not possible.
However, since there’s no direct way to demonstrate that you know who you are — there is no distinct “finger feat” that would come with such knowledge — many people jump straight to the conclusion that absolute self-knowledge is just a chimera, oblivious to the fact that they just could not be bothered less to lift a finger.
Which is fine, but still — I have a soft spot for people with talent ;P
