Sapere aude

11:50:00 AM

Just the street i love | Belgrade

This was inspired by one of my classes in college. Through our education, we  are usually taught a lot of bullshit and things that are supposed to be learned by heart and inevitably forgotten right after the exam, so this fracture of today’s lesson was a positive surprise for me. Some things you hear in school/college are actually good food for thought and are so universal that even centuries and centuries after, they’re still relevant (that’s why i love literature). Sapere aude means Dare to know, first mentioned by the roman poet Horace and it was the motto of the Age of Enlightenment (which we talked about in mentioned class). This brilliant thought of Immanuel Kant illustrates it very well:
“If I have a book to serve as my understanding, a pastor to serve as my conscience, a physician to determine my diet for me, and so on, I need not exert myself at all. I need not think, if only I can pay: others will readily undertake the irksome work for me. The guardians who have so benevolently taken over the supervision of men have carefully seen to it that the far greatest part of them (including the entire fair sex) regard taking the step to maturity as very dangerous, not to mention difficult. Having first made their domestic livestock dumb, and having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed, these guardians then show them the danger that threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not actually so great, for after falling a few times they would in the end certainly learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes men timid and usually frightens them out of all further attempts.“

So, my thought of the day would be dare to think - which is a kind of a sequel of my last post. Don’t be just another sheep, or brick in the wall, or Mr. Nobody.
In our world, it’s a revolutionary act to turn the media off and brain on (and i see the irony of telling you this on Internet a.k.a. the most popular media today).
So start the revolution, start questioning things.

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70 comments

  1. Zdravo Dunja,
    uvek je lepo nesto nauciti novo! Obozavam Kanta i hvala ti sto si ga (s)pomenula! Danasnje generacije sva sreca imaju mogucnost da se (samo)edukuju preko interneta, dok smo mi iskljucivo ucili samo ono sa predavanja.
    Zelim ti puno uspeha sa tvojim blogom!
    Nada
    (bellinacreativa)

    p.s.
    nadam se da ti nece smetati komentar na srpskom, moram priznati da sam se uzelela ostavlajti komentare na maternjem jeziku

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  2. So true, excellent!

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  3. I appreciate this post and completely agree with you - i read a lot of alternative sources to 'open my mind' and i'd like to think I'm not someone to just follow a herd like a mindless sheep.

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    1. Absolutely somewhere we become complacent and of a herd mentality...we need personal wakeup calls from time to time to ensure this doent happen

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    2. Thank you. Sometimes i feel like people of power simply don't want us to think, because it's easier to manipulate the brainless - that's why we have to.

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  4. Thank you for sharing this. I definetky agree we have to turn our brain's on more and take the time for ourselves and thinking, reading or doing anything that doesn't involve just staring at the computer. Btw, if I may ask, what are you studying?

    adventurousmiles.com

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    1. Italian language, literature and culture - that was on one of the culture classes :)

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  5. Fantastic! Thinking seems to be a dying art, and we have to keep it going!

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    1. I totally agree with you on this, thinking is becoming extinct. Time for all to exercise that mental muscle

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    2. Thank you! Thinking is what makes us human - although it's easier just to do what you're told. But that's not the right way to live a life :)

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  6. Very good article! We also have to put in balance that thinking requires effort, same as a pushup will require muscles. School tries to make us believe that everyone thinks the same, but the reality is totally different. People are not the same and do not think the same. Some people would like to know more while others will be happy just where they are.

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  7. So I learn something new today -- Sapere Aude, and I wrote these words on my journal. I see social media and the internet as a medium that helps me learn more about lots of things. I even learned how to create my own blogs' layouts because of google :) It's just sad that most people are not taking advantage of the positive things they could get out of social media.

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    1. That's great! You can learn something from everything, and you can also waste your time using the absolutely same things. It's all up to us!

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  8. I agree with you! I decided to apply for a university that is promoting so called inquiry learning which I love so far. The idea of it is to learn through thinking and doing. Not that much reading. I feel Iäve learned a lot through that.

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    1. That's great! It must be really interesting and useful!

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  10. :) you reminded me of the homework I had to do in college when I had to comment upon a quote ;)) Thanks for sharing

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  11. For some reason it's not letting me comment unless I use my google account but either way. I love this article and fully agree!!! We need to disconnect and learn to grow in more older organic ways again. I fear the world that's rules by nothing but technology.

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  12. Agree with your idea of thinking outside the norm. And speaking of Kant, philosophers are great at helping you do just that. Hegel is one I love to struggle with.

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    1. I didn't have the chance to read Hegel, but i'll definitely try to read him :)

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  13. "Through our education, we are usually taught a lot of bullshit and things that are supposed to be learned by heart and inevitably forgotten right after the exam"
    and teaching you things you cant apply in real life. haha! Great post!

    Therese Glenn
    http://www.thehandmadechic.com/

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  14. this actually reminds me of that TED talk that I have watched few days ago... the fear of nothing daring to know things should be blame to our left brain because that's where the fear of trying or exploring something new is being developed but the creative thinking and courage of doing and learning something new is the job of the right brain.. i might be wrong but what i really mean is that we really have to explore other things and try to answer those 'What ifs' and how ifs in our lives

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    1. Ooh that's really interesting :) Can you give me the link of that speech?

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  15. To not be a lamb lead me to 2 amazing places in my life: The first one was to be rejected from the flock, the other to have my dream job. I could not agree more with you on this.

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  16. What a great post. I particularly liked the length which was short enough to keep me interested but long enough to inform

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    1. Thank you! And thanks for commenting length, i'm still experimenting with it and trying to find the ideal one :)

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  17. Beautiful and eloquent. This was a great share. Thank you so much!!!

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  18. Excellent post and it's really food for thought, I definitely need to take time out from the world of social media and even television to appreciate a good book or to just have a decent conversation/discussion and have an original thought in my mind! Wonderful post!

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  19. I love your article. It's very true. We really need to turn off electronic devices and just be able to think freely without distractions. Sadly, there's always something around - whether that is having the TV on at home, or at a restaurant. The world is such a media frenzy place.

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    1. Thank you! Yes, they're everywhere - and it seems like we can't without them. Today's world is built up the way we probably can't

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  20. Be true to you, is how I would sum it up. We are all here as complete originals. I believe there was complete oneness before we came. We came specifically for the diversity. What a lost opportunity to just follow the crowd, and realize at death, "Whoops."

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  21. Love this follow up post to mr nobody. We need to make decisions for ourselves.

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  22. Very well written Dunja! To widen the scope of your life, dare to think beyond your immediate circumstances. Dare to think big. You can think beyond the boundaries of your reality.

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  23. I like that post! Start questioning things is one of the things I have started doing lately and have been able to find results in the questions.

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  24. I completely agree with this post. You will never be unless you dare to think :)

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  25. Dunja I am fast becoming a fast favourite of your blog, I like that you question the world we live in and explore how life is outside of the closeted box of humanity. I think it is important to question everything because how else would we learn and interact efficiently with other people?

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  26. so true! This is what bothered me in school. I have forgotten most of the things I have learnt, it was too prescriptive, whereas my time in the Uni was descriptive and profs never imposed anything on me, but I could choose what I want to do and elaborate on what I was interested in.

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    1. That's great - actually, exactly how it needs to be. Instead of that, we have to waste time on things we're not interested and we don't need. I guess some things like maths teach us to think in a logical way, some things are part of general knowledge, i'm okay with that, but some things i REALLY don't need.

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  27. Great post! I love the topic, I believe that thinking is so important for us to exercise our brain muscle, but not to fill it with things that we will forget and can really live without, but to fill it with useful knowledge that we shouldn't live without! I wish schools were more flexible with students in what we want and need to learn about. I've had some teachers even tell the class to study for the test, and after we will probably never use this info again in our lifetime, but that it's required for them to teach it! how sad!

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    1. Thank you! That's why educational systems are so bad - instead of teaching us useful things, it's still old-fashioned and filled with useless things.

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  28. Great message...too many people just sleepwalk through life without ever daring to venture outside of their comfort zone.

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  29. Couldn't agree more - thanks for sharing!
    www.justus.is

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  30. It's hard for me to question things sometimes. When people tell me to do things, especially at work, I automatically think it's the right way. I'll try to dare myself to think more tho!

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    1. It sometimes is, especially at work, or uni, or school - or other places you have to respect the authorities and do what they say. But remember there is no absolute truth and no one knows everything :)

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  31. I'm not a big lover of people myself - i love some individuals beyond words, i like a lot of them also, but as species we're the dumbest, most egoistic and evil creatures on the planet.

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  32. Love your thoughts. Had some similar posts on my blog as well. Will def. follow you!

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  33. Very inspiring post , you are sooooo right ! I hope , many many people , who are insecure , are getting to read this ! Thank you for a great morning post along with my coffee !

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  34. Great blog post, it has given me a lot to think about and look forward to reading more of your posts in the future.

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  35. Sapere Aude - that is something new I learned today! thanks!

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  36. Your writing is refreshing....I could read this over and over and never get tired of it. Mr.Nobody is still one of my favorite posts <3 great work

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  37. Alas, with age, we start accepting all the senseless things.I have great trust in today's youth who have begun questioning things.

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