Life in Circles and Squares
It is known that with knowledge comes wisdom. This probably also supports the idea that education and experiences, whether formal or not, indeed serve as significant tools in shaping wise, insightful, and rational generations of women and men. But isn’t it also true that wisdom gave birth to knowledge? Without the wisdom of free-thinkers, philosophers, and the amalgamation of human experiences in the pursuit of truth, various schools of thought would never have come into existence.
I would like to say that knowledge and wisdom are akin to the universe, as one school of thought suggests: constantly expanding. And both are comparable to circles and squares. If I were to start with a dot to represent either, I would find myself in a continuous loop; except that the former has corners—moments akin to when I must pause to ensure coherence and whether the ‘idea’ makes sense or not. They are finite, akin to the universe yet again. As a human being, my knowledge and wisdom—passed down through generations and unfolding throughout my lifetime—can only traverse so far. Lamentably, the human mind has its limits in the pursuit of truth. Nevertheless, I will continue to search for my truth, much like Nietzsche, while simultaneously accepting it as it is, as Camus said.
Back in 2015, I was a college sophomore studying Biochemistry at the University of Santo Tomas, a Catholic university in Manila, Philippines, when I learned about the two fountains named the Fountain of Wisdom and the Fountain of Knowledge on campus. I was fortunate to have a friend in my block who enjoyed strolling around the campus, giving us time to engage in wide-ranging discussions until around 9:45 in the evening, just before the campus lights turn off. One of our topics was the two fountains flanking the Arch of the Centuries. Later, I discovered that these were the Fountain of Wisdom on the right and the Fountain of Knowledge on the left when facing the España Boulevard. These fountains, alongside the arch, form part of the Plaza Intramuros in UST’s original campus. Each fountain has a woman holding either a circle or a square. My friend and I amusingly guessed that perhaps the circle symbolized wisdom—it being a continuous loop with no limitations—while the square represented knowledge, its corners symbolizing rational constraints.
To this day, I remain unsure which of the fountains represents Knowledge or Wisdom. Yet, this idea instilled in me a deeper appreciation for wisdom and knowledge in life. Like these two shapes, the two are a continuous and infinite set of points.
Presently, there’s no halting; my existence lies within a circle and square. All I need to do is create another set of points of either shape, whether it encapsulates or is encapsulated by the present.
Life, indeed, embodies a lifetime of patterns—circles and squares—often enclosing the other and vice versa.
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