There Is Everything That We Can Do

Richard Seltzer
2 min readOct 1, 2021

Excerpt from “Why Knot?” Buy the book at Amazon

The same principle that establishes that we cannot know the world establishes that we can change the world and that together we can change it greatly.

One of the major discoveries of the twentieth century was recognition of the limits of knowledge. We cannot understand the world because the act of trying to know it alters it. There will always be an element of uncertainty.

That principle at first seems to be an admission of weakness, but it also can be a source of strength, a declaration of empowerment.

We come to know the world by doing things that change it, through cause and effect, by trial and error. Everyone, regardless of strength or intelligence or social status, changes the world by what they do. That means that if and when people coordinate what they do and act in harmony with one another, they can make major changes.

That realization is important as we face critical issues such as pandemics and global warming. Individually, we are helpless in the face of such complex and pressing dangers; we can do nothing. But working together in harmony, there is everything we can do.

Excerpt from “Why Knot?” Buy the book at Amazon

List of Richard’s other jokes, stories and essays.

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Richard Seltzer

His recent books include Echoes from the Attic, Grandad Jokes, Lizard of Oz, Shakespeare'sTwin Sister, To Gether Tales. and Parallel Lives, seltzerbooks.com