Are
You Knowledgeable Or Are You Wise? Secret
of Life and Answer to your Future
Are
You Knowledgeable Or Are You Wise?
A
knowledgeable man and a Wise man, what is the difference between
the both? This is a very simple question to be answering, isn't
it? But still, there is many variations to how it could be answered;
some can answer it with just one simple sentence while some could
actually go on with paragraphs and paragraphs for it.
What
would be the correct answer to this question then? Again, that depends
on what kind of a person you are, whether you are the knowledgeable
or the wise type.
What
am I trying to get at here? Well, am definitely not here to argue
about the meaning of the two words. Rather, the purpose is to allow
you a moment to ponder and think, to bring to your senses the mistakes
that you might have unknowingly made and for you to next correct
them.
Ok,
let me give you an example. Since young, we have been repeatedly
taught to be honest and that it is wrong of us to lie. But now,
if you were given a choice between telling a white lie to save someone's
life and telling the truth to end his life, which will you choose?
And let just take it that he made a mistake but then he has done
no harm to in anyway hurt anyone physically. Given such a scenario,
I am sure you wouldn't be so cruel to actually indirect murder him?
We were taught to be also kind and forgiving, aren't we?
So
here, what would be the rationale behind this decision of yours?
Why would you actually want to give him this chance? The reason?
Well, that is because there is kindness in you; you understand the
essence of what true kindness is. You see, what that was taught
to you is what we would call knowledge, theories that made beautiful
sense; theories that should work in the ideal case. But in actual
life, are things going to be that ideal all the times? Definitely
not always possible! And here is where you need to be wise, to have
the wisdom to be able to judge properly what is true or right. And
yes! You did very well. In the given example, you are able to judge
wisely for yourself between honesty and kindness.
Give
you another example, let us take for instance medication and herbalism.
Now, if we were to simply base our approach on pure knowledge, there
are several long past records from the ancient times that document
the use of healing agents for the recovery of various illnesses.
Yes, these records would provide us with good references but then,
are we going to just simply base on them and apply the immediate
and complete use of them? No! Rather, we have to still study them
carefully and understand their true effect and influence before
actually applying them. And even when using them, we have to keep
monitoring their progressive effect and influence on the individuals;
the effect may not be the same for every one and sometimes instead
of curing, an over dosage can inversely cause harm. So here, we
have to be wise to remain rational in our actions. Yes, it may hurt
us a lot to see our loved ones in pain but still, we can't get emotional
and react impulsively and feed them with extra dosage or worse,
unclear medicine that might threaten their life.
Get the picture now? In short, we can put it this way, knowledge
is knowing the steps and processes but wisdom is understanding them
to correctly apply them in accordance to the situations that arise.
But to be saying, many have been too blinded by knowledge to respond
wisely especially with the younger generations of Today where most
are of at least a university graduate. You see, knowledge can give
you a very misleading idea that you are the expert who knows everything
but in reality, do you really understand? Just picture a psychologist
who has never been in love advising you on how to handle your marriage,
do you think he could totally understand the very problem? Your
mum though not as highly educated but who has the experience may
provide you with just better advice.
So
back to our life, don't look down on yourself just because you possess
poor paper qualification. Real wisdom is what that cannot be taught
to you from school. Rather, it can only be manifested through your
own understanding and realization of life. So similarly, don't be
too prideful of yourself if you were to possess excellent paper
qualification. You have to understand that what you have is only
the knowledge; beautiful theories of others pass on to you. But
how to be applying them into your own life, that is for you to comprehend
and figure out still. At the end of the day, it is whether are you
willing to explore and seek the further understanding of life.
Now,
you don't need others to plan for you what you want in life. What
is it that you want for yourself, that is for you to decide yourself.
Well, if you can't even decide this for yourself, what is the point
even if you were to be the most knowledgeable man on earth? Let
knowledge be a tool to help you but not an obstacle to bring you
down.