Would You Like to Know Everything?

I remember watching shows like The Pretender, Macgyver, John Doe, and others of that ilk, and being totally impressed with the way they were always able to come up with the right answers to every situation. They seemed to know everything. But did they?

Did you ever wonder what it would be like to do know everything? I have admit I had never given it much thought until just a while ago when I was responding to a comment on a hub and suddenly it came to me, would I even want to know everything? There are so many pros and cons to the idea.

Now while you would probably be able to do just about anything you wanted, would that be fun? I have often heard that life is a game,and to have a game there has to be the possibility of loss. If you already know you are going to win before you start, is it a game?

I remember when I was in the 8th grade playing basketball. We were pretty good and one day we were playing a school that was pretty bad. They had baskets that were 8 ft instead of the usual 10ft and even our smallest guy could easily dunk the ball. We beat them 73 to 13 in spite of putting in our 3rd string most of the game. Now while we were not sad, there was no real feeling of winning for us.

A few years later we beat the best team in the state by one point by shooting about 80% from the floor. Now this was a bit like a Rocky movie. Now here we not only had the possibility of loss, but loss was the expected outcome. Now here there was joy in the victory this time.

So it seems that life's pleasures come from life's small victories. The games we play, even if it is how am I going to pay this month's bills are what make life worth living. People who win the lottery are happy for the moment but it often becomes a curse because it takes away their game, and then they often handle the money poorly and end up worse off than they were before their wind fall.

If we knew everything there would never be any surprises so would it be a good thing? I am not so sure, but if you really think about it it is an interesting mental exercise.

If somebody out of the blue asked most of us if we would like to know everything, most of us would probably, without thinking, say "yes". But if we really took the time to think what that actually meant, we might not be so hasty. If you knew everything, life would have no mysteries and you would have no problems. Now initially, this sounds like a good thing. You would always know what the winning lottery numbers were, and what stocks to pick, and survival would certainly be no problem for you. Still, just what would give you pleasure. Presently, with my current financial situation, I might just be tempted to find out. However, in the long run, it might not be as fun as I thought it would be.

I would always know what was going to happen, so I could hold no surprises. On the other hand, I would have no financial problems, I would always know what friends to choose, and life would be relatively easy. This would be very tempting. Still the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I have never been in a worse financial condition than I am right now, and so I might be tempted by this idea. However, in the long run often times the struggles we go through in surviving, make our very best memories. I know this sounds weird, but just think back on your life. If you ever had a major obstacle to your survival that you overcame, you might just have pleasant memories when you thought back to your victory in life.

Now I'm not saying that I couldn't use $1 million just about now, but I am saying that if I could somehow work out how to make that million dollars, that the effort of doing so would be what made life interesting. If I knew everything and could just buy a lottery ticket with the winning numbers there would be no challenge, and therefore the victory would not be so sweet. However, if someone out there just happened to have 1 million they would like to get rid of, I wouldn't turn it down. That, however, is not the point, the point is that if something is too easy, we tend to enjoy it less. And if you knew absolutely everything, life just might be too easy.