I’m sure this notion I’m about to ponder has been pondered in space in the past. However, this weekend forced the revelation on me again so I’m going to ponder the notion yet again.

This weekend I got lucky and had a gaffer/camera operator job in Napa Valley for a DP I worked with on a feature shot in Tucson many months ago…oy…time goes by quickly.

So anyway, I was in Napa Valley helping shoot a pilot TV show about wine and people conversing and all the niceties that entails and I was watching this party of sorts happen in front of my eyes and my camera and I thought, “Man, do I lead a boring life.”

Those people were smart and interesting and fun to look at. They typified the term “jetsetter”. It was crazy.

And that lead me to the notion of how little I know about everything.

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” — Socrates

So I got true wisdom going for me.

I’m flying in a plane looking out a window early in the morning and the Earth is unbearably beautiful. But what is all that? Some information about geology and weather and the biology of the desert is in my mind. I could probably guess as to what’s going on down there and maybe even guess right but I don’t KNOW. I’m flying a in plane and I have some rudimentary notion of aerodynamics and the operation of a plane but if the pilot dies my time playing flight simulators when I was a child probably won’t save me. I am learning photography and lights and directing and filmic things in general and still I know absolutely nothing. I’m actually kind of knowledgeable about that and can function on a set, teach the untaught if I have to, do lots of things with lights and cameras and stuff and still I know I’m not quire sure what I’m doing.

This carries into everything. I don’t really understand life, love, finance, friendship, travel, wine, outdoor survival, how to shoot a gun or even how to cook fish well.

The list could go on, well, into infinity as I am not god and I don’t know all…I can’t plan an invasion of a small country, I couldn’t run drugs,or open a nightclub, I can’t really figure out how to produce much of anything and if I’m suddenly thrust into an Armageddon-like situation I’ll probably die quickly as I’m not much of a fighter even if I can do 100 situps and pushups a day. The zombie attack will get me quick.

What I long for is that moment where technology catches up to the movies The Matrix and gives me the ability to download abilities into my mind. I know kung fu. I know how to make sushi. I know the geology of the riparian desert.

That would be kinda nice.

And a lot less frustrating than spending countless years learning and working only to be “not bad”.

In a similar vein, if I ever took a photo as good as the ones in the website below,

http://www.gregcohenphotography.com/

I might just die from supreme satisfaction.