My daughter shared with me a series of Podcasts she thought I would find interesting. She is very very very smart, so I expected I would learn something – which I did. The Sawbones podcast she shared was on Trepanation (Trepanning) – the act of purposely drilling a hole in someone’s (could be your own) head.
Right??!! WHAT??!!
Well, it’s a thing, and it turns out to be a Neolithic thing. Oh, it still happens, but mostly in hospitals, under anesthesia, and for proven scientific and medical affects. But, there is archeological evidence (which is the basis of this story) proving our ancestors purposely drilled holes in the head of those who they felt (they = a committee of volunteers I’m certain) needed this service (migraines, spirits, quirky behavior).
Skulls uncovered across the globe (Europe, South America, Africa) show evidence of bone growth AFTER these (a) hole was bored, meaning that whoever the poor sole was that experienced the procedure did in fact survive. At that point in our evolution it’s probably safe to say drills didn’t exist. So drilling was done much like digging holes in the sand at the beach, without a shovel; you just scrape away the sand with a shell – OUCH!
Anyway – Paul Broca (1824-1880), one of the first (if not the first) neurologists to be fascinated by the practice of Trepanation, published a study on the ACT, and used the phrase, “Ignorance is the mother of boldness.” His context? Well, the fact that our ancestors – thousands of years ago – were scraping away parts of the human skull – IN HOPES OF curing something.
To be clear, being amazed by trepanning is not the point of my writing, the point here is the origin(s) of the word ‘ignorance’. It is a combination of IG and GNARUS.
Gnarus is Latin, it means aware, or acquainted with. IG is also Latin (naturally), it means not. So Ignarus in Latin means not aware, which seems a lot less harsh that calling someone ignorant; this seems to be very pejorative (unnecessarily). Being unaware simply means you have not learned, yet. Willful Ignorance, on the other hand, is blatantly and willfully ignoring sensory input that appears to contradict one’s inner model of reality.
This brings us back to Ignorance being the mother of Boldness. If you don’t know, ASK…don’t assume. Salespeople need to ask, they need to know, they need to understand, they need to avoid (at all costs) being willfully ignorant of time, effort, information, details, budget, decision making process, timeline, competition, snipers, cheerleaders, etc, and so forth, and so on, within their opportunities.
They need to be ignorant of the outcome of a phone call asking for help, or information, or an opportunity to meet, rather than being willfully ignorant of the outcome for NOT being ignorant, because “Ignorance is the mother of boldness.”
Be Exceptional – Be Ignorant – Be Bold!
©CTCollinsJr
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