Living in an environment where the pace of life moves quickly, a person can easily be swept along the rush. In a place where everyone is racing forward, one may feel left behind if they fail to achieve something new each day. At some point, we fall in love with the idea of accumulating knowledge and think that remembering more means being smarter. We consider knowing more is good, so we try to read more, listen more, watch more, remember more. We assume that being able to comment on an issue means we understand it, so as long as we can articulate a viewpoint, we feel satisfied. We measure intelligence by the number of books we’ve read, the number of podcasts we’ve listened to, and our fluency in reasoning through pre-existing arguments.
When absorbing knowledge from others becomes a habit, we become lazy in our thinking. Lacking the ability to observe reality to understand what is happening, a person will tend to depend on the entity that provide them with answers. Whether those answers are true or not hardly matters, because they do not care enough to reassess—so long as there is an answer that sounds convincing enough to hold onto. What unfolds right in front of us may be overlooked, as we cling tightly to the knowledge we value so highly. Right and wrong may end up being judged only by whether something aligns with our views, or with the ideas of the entities we value.
At times, relying on others’ knowledge does not create problems; it can even be convenient and beneficial. But in certain matters, such dependence becomes an obstacle that prevents one from seeing the truth. And when actions stem from things that are not true, conflicts with what we interact with are very likely to occur.
In aspects related to life and the inner self, memorizing knowledge brings nothing more than a sense of satisfaction and reassurance that we know the answers. A person may comment on, explain, or advise others about a problem while silently struggling with that very problem themselves.
If the foundational knowledge of a person’s life originates from dependence on others’ knowledge, then the perspectives built upon it will grow increasingly vague and detached from reality. Without understanding oneself, judgments about others and about life become more and more one-sided and stereotypical. Having many opinions about life without truly understanding even the smallest things about oneself is like building a house on sand. Deep down, one senses this instability, and thus become sensitive when disruptions occur, when reality does not unfold as expected.
The foundational knowledge of life only takes root when we observe reality directly, starting from the things closest to us. The desire behind thoughts, the intentions behind actions—these are things we can observe ourselves, without needing any expert or teacher to show us how. Viewing ourselves through the lens of borrowed knowledge does not lead to self-understanding; it only creates the illusion of self-understanding, while confusion, irrationality and disorder still remain present in a person’s mind each day. The journey of understanding oneself and understanding life begins when a person no longer waits to receive wisdom from others.