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Albert Einstein once famously quipped: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” Our accumulation of knowledge starts from the moment we leave the womb. In fact, you could argue that it starts from the moment we are conceived – it is the development of our cognitive and processing skills that turns learned behaviour into knowledge that then becomes a learned experience that governs our next moves.
Whether or not we are aware of it, our pursuit of knowledge drives our sense of purpose in life. Whether that focus is on becoming a master of one trade or a jack of all often comes down to the level of education you receive, the environment and community you grew up in, and your unique personality.
Why do we believe that knowledge gives us power?
Not knowing something puts us at a disadvantage. If we are in a situation we don’t understand, where we cannot predict an outcome, and feel we have no control, it adds to an overall sense of powerlessness. The more we know, the more in control we feel.
All our technology these days is designed to put us in positions of knowledge. If we don’t know something, we just need to Google it. If we’re trying for a baby, early pregnancy scans will tell us whether or not we were successful before even our own bodies know! 24-hour rolling news on every device and on a million TV channels keeps us updated with every millisecond of global events.
The fact is, though, that not all knowledge is equal. And while one man’s knowledge can be saving, it could be another man’s undoing in the wrong hands.
So while we may believe that knowledge gives us power – if processed incorrectly or misunderstood- that knowledge could make us feel more stressed, anxious, and even more out of control than ignorance might have made us feel.
Knowledge at our fingertips – but how much is authentic
The internet age means so many more people have a wealth of knowledge at their fingertips. You can search for a few facts on the internet, take a couple of online courses, download your certificate and set yourself up as an expert in all manner of different disciplines. While the explosion of online learning should be considered a positive move, enabling millions more to access education and learning opportunities that may have previously been unavailable to them, great care needs to be taken to ensure that courses are being authenticated and that they don’t undervalue genuine qualifications that cost students thousands, and give them bona fide routes into professional career paths.
Ignorance is not the enemy of knowledge but rather the illusion of knowledge. If you are a 16-year-old applying for your first job, your CV will be thin in terms of knowledge and experience simply because you have not had the years of experience required to build up that database. Pretending that you have more knowledge than you actually do can put you at a disadvantage. It looks disingenuous because it is disingenuous.
Success comes by using every moment of success and failure as a learning process. And this doesn’t stop, no matter how old you are. From the moment you are born to the day you are put into a coffin, life teaches you new nuggets of knowledge that sit alongside the way you view the world. In fact, it is true what they say – the more you know, the more you realise you have to learn.
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