You Always Admire What You Don’t Understand

Pascal quote

Photo by Kevin Escate on Unsplash Black background and two hands reaching toward each other in the darkness. Both hands are manicured and nails are painted black. Both women’s hands, but also different from each other.

I think I fear what I don’t understand more than admire. Films that I don’t understand are not things of beauty to me. Such a film is an object of confusion. Take, for example, Last Year in Marienbad directed by Alain Resnais. I have viewed that film more than once and I still do not understand its meaning.

Failure to contemplate, or understand, or grok, may be the beginning of understanding. After all, Socrates once quipped that the beginning of wisdom is knowing you don’t understand.

So is there a natural limit to confusion that leads to fruitful contemplation? There may be.

Thank you