Not necessarily? That implies that in your view it’s possible. I hold, according to that fellow, that one does need wisdom and knowledge, but for life itself—to adapt yourself properly to the order of life and nature. Diogenes lived a dog’s life, and it seems to me he was closer to life than the rest of the people of Athens. Dogs live without worries and anxieties, and they don’t engage in abstract philosophy.

Quite the opposite, my good man, the opposite.
Someone who pursues knowledge is already anxious.
Knowledge calms, gives a sense of control and stability.

Don’t you notice that you’re writing a contradiction and don’t even understand yourself what you want? That’s already the second time tonight.

A., you’re exposing your weakness when it comes to reading comprehension. The Last Decisor means that there’s a curious person wrestling with questions. The remedy for such a person is knowledge, which provides answers to the questions that disturbed his peace of mind.

I would be more precise in the wording of the verse: acquiring basic knowledge does not bring pain (and on the contrary, avoiding it also brings pain).
The whole point of the verse is about someone who “increases” knowledge—that is, beyond what is needed, or beyond his abilities and tools—then he increases pain, as the sage said in Avot: anyone whose wisdom exceeds his deeds, etc.

“For wisdom is a protection just as money is a protection, and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.”

r. “I came to realize that all those who searched, as I did, in human knowledge, found nothing—just like me.” [Tolstoy]

The Jew is that pitiable creature who was taken from the eternal fire burning in heaven, and with it illuminated the whole world.
He is the source, the spring, and the fountain (a wordplay in Russian, where all three carry three meanings) from which all the other nations drew their beliefs and their religions.
The Jew is the pioneer at the head of the camp of freedom.
The Jew is the pioneer at the head of human culture.
The Jew is the symbol of eternity.

[Tolstoy].

https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/לב_טולסטוי

So what? What does that have to do with anything?

According to the way of Confucius and his disciples, the best Chinese children, from a young age until their twenties or thirties, study books of wisdom and ethics and acquire broad knowledge, and afterward take examinations in order to serve as officials in the state service. The status of Confucian scholars was like that of Torah scholars in Israel. Su Shi, the author of the poem, was a scholar who lived during the Song dynasty, successfully passed the exams, and served in various positions in the state service. He criticized a reform carried out by a group of politicians. They accused him of subverting the emperor, which led to a prolonged exile, until he was pardoned. In the poem “The Birth of the Son,” Su Shi criticizes the politics of his time, in which unqualified people managed to reach senior positions. The meaning of his poem: the scholar—people do not like to hear his criticism, they persecute him, and he is unhappy, whereas the ignoramus has no worries, passes his days in “happiness,” and can even be appointed a senior minister in the government 🙂

That doesn’t necessarily contradict what I wrote. Where do you get that interpretation from?

Su Shi was a Confucian scholar, and all Confucian scholars advocate education and learning.

So? That still doesn’t answer me.

It’s clear to me that this is the meaning of the poem. How did you understand it?

Along the lines of what I wrote, but that also doesn’t contradict your interpretation.

The interpretation you wrote fits the West more than the East. The English poet Milton composed in his youth two matching poems: “The Happy Man,” dealing with lighthearted life, and “The Pensive Man,” dealing with a life of learning accompanied by melancholy. Among the Confucians, happiness is moral happiness; the source of joy is good character traits, and therefore only a life of wisdom, not a lightheaded life, brings joy.

I checked and learned a bit about Su Shi’s poem.

The Confucian tradition is expressed in the following poem that the great poet Du Fu wrote to his son:

You have begun to compose poetry and to understand the rules,
you know that your bed should be covered with a pile of books.
You have begun to memorize the great poems of the past,
and you must stop yearning for frivolous games.
At your leisure, you may drink a few cups with father,
for next year you will be as tall as I am.
The time has come to fill your belly with the ancient books of study,
for it seems that you have fine handwriting.
Fourteen is the age to act on aspirations (to study),
and to enter among the ranks of Confucius’ three thousand disciples.
Zengzi and Zixia are foremost among them;
only enlightened people like them are permitted to enter his hall!

Fathers pushed their sons to study poetry and Confucian learning so that they would successfully pass the difficult entrance examinations for the civil service of the Chinese empire.

Su Shi’s poem is a kind of response to Du Fu’s poem:

Everyone hopes their sons will be wise / intelligent / brilliant,
but being too clever is what ruined my life.
Would that you be ignorant and unlearned, my dear little son,
and rise, free of worries, to high office!

The intention of the poem, according to a scholar of Chinese poetry: “The poet says that his life was ruined by cleverness, which caused him inadvertently to offend senior officials, and it would be better if his son were stupid like them. The humor of the poem is rare in poems about sons.”

Su Shi’s humorous criticism is not directed at wisdom, understanding, or learning, but at the society of his time, which from childhood trained scholars who were supposed to morally improve the state, while in practice humiliating them under the rule of senior officials ignorant of knowledge.

More power to you, M80.