Value of Learning

Humility is a mark of the truly learned!

    Instead of becoming a source of pride, the knowledge intelligent people already got prompts them to be humble for included in the ephemeral  knowledge they have are their consequential aspects:

what they already knew is very little compared to all the knowledge there is to know…

·         Knowledge can be indeed considered as a treasure but the physicality of human beings makes him incapable of assimilating all knowledge. As Steven Spielberg depicted in the movie “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” there is simply so much more to know out there that we could not possibly take them all in. A sane person would have to be humbled by this… And so most of the time, a learned person have to settle to having some form of expertise in one field of knowledge.

knowledge cannot be stolen but it is of no use unless used to serve others…

·         The use of learning and knowledge is for giving. No knowledge is truly useful to oneself alone for its real value is in its use for serving many. If you are good at making watches, there’s no use making a thousand watches for yourself. If you are good at constructing tall buildings, there’s no use making a hundred-storey building for your own use only! If you’re good in singing, wouldn’t it be boring if you sing only to yourself? If you are good in drawing or painting, what would be the use of your artworks if nobody else sees them? Talent is useful only when used for serving others just as knowledge gets real value only when given away.

knowledge unused will eventually fade away to be obscured or lost…

·         you lose what you do not use is physical law! Anything we only keep (or worse, hoard) in storage, including knowledge, will eventually become useless. Time erodes the value of material possessions by weakening them or by simply making them obsolete just as time obscures knowledge unused until they are eventually forgotten. The only knowledge we can retain are those we use!

amusing or perplexing?

·         Because of the above, I find it amusing to see students cheating in tests. In effect, they are telling the examiner that they know something (though they don’t) that they would have no use anyway, because they can only give away something they want to give away if they already got them. That is counterproductive because they would have nothing to draw upon when faced with situations requiring the use of the knowledge they lied about and without realizing or admitting it, they are treading a path of un-development because a person cannot only grow when he/she admits the insufficiency of his/her knowledge thereby preparing the self for learning. It’s amusing if not perplexing because cheaters thought they are fooling the examiners when they are actually fooling themselves by blocking their avenue for learning new knowledge, by robbing them of a chance to develop self-confidence, and by preventing personal development.

    Yes, learning and knowledge can indeed be considered as treasures but only when you see their source of value! Are you among those who are happy to see these?

~ Sir Magi

 

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