Wendell

"Thus the proposition that it would be good to know everything is probably false. The real question that is always to be addressed is the one that arises from our state of ignorance: How does one act well - sensitively, compassionately, without irreparable damage - on the basis of partial knowledge?

Perhaps the most proper, and the most natural, response to our state of ignorance is not to haste to increase the amount of available information, or even to increase knowledge, but rather a lively and convivial engagement with the issues of form, elegance, and kindness. These issues of "sustainability" are both scientific and artistic."

-Wendell Berry Life Is A Miracle

Current disappointment in life: I cannot know/do/be everything. Wendell Berry has been helping me come to terms with this. It's dangerous to think we can know everything, that what we are doing is THE most important thing anyone can be doing (I sometimes struggle with this arrogance about the arts, of course other times I struggle with the opposite where I think my efforts to become better in painting and music are meaningless, both are dangerous). I'm coming to realize how very much I do not know, no matter how desperately I cram all kinds of things into my brain. And I'm thankful, at least at times. Thankful that I am limited, because it becomes horribly exhausting when you think you can know everything, or should know, or must know. And also because it helps me have more grace both for myself and for others.

Mainly, all that is to say, read Wendell Berry.