Information Information Everywhere~
I live in an age that some like referring to as information age. I am by training an information processor. There is semantic difference (in my mind) between having information and having knowledge.
Information is an addition to my memory bank that my processors can analyze and apply in various situations. For so many years, I have been believing that having information and being able to apply it in new situations is knowledge. NO!
Information is not Knowledge!
Knowledge transforms. My reality. My perception. My truth. Me.
Knowledge becomes part of my everything. It is not merely something I have committed in my memory and that I use as a tool for solving stuff.
Knowledge becomes part of my truth, my problem, my answer. It is not something that I learn. It is something that sinks in and becomes an indistinguishable and inseparable part of my existence.
(Again, this is an information that I have, can write blogs about, and even profess, but it is not in my knowledge.)
Dilemma of This Trained Engineer:
As an engineer by training, I am trained to input information, process it, apply it, and heroically and habitually confuse it with knowing.
So, I think I know real gas law, but unless each part of my existence synonymously knows of gas phase as randomly moving entities with vanderWaals (and other) forces that inversely squared wrt to Volume of the space exert a positive (or whatever) pressure (pull molecules in or out wards) and these tiny blobs of mass (woah! What the hell is the mass to begin with!!) reduce the volume of space by the same amount of space that their collective electron orbits occupy (Really! where is this electron?), and unless the product of this reduced pressure and volume for my entire existence ties in beautifully and naturally with the energy that I call temperature. And unless this energy (Hola!!), this heat (woah!), becomes the definition of randomly moving masss' occupancy in space (V) and its influence on the boundaries of this space (P), (at least) until then I DO NOT know the real gas behaviour (or 'equation' as me-engineer loves to say.)
Also, I have fairly good imagination, so as I describe real gas equation, it is very easy for me to visualize it. But, visualization is also not knowing. Just as watching a movie does not become part of my life and remains just-another-experience, similarly visualization is not my reality. Visualizing theory is an experience, an added polish to my information- not my knowing.
Also, I have fairly good imagination, so as I describe real gas equation, it is very easy for me to visualize it. But, visualization is also not knowing. Just as watching a movie does not become part of my life and remains just-another-experience, similarly visualization is not my reality. Visualizing theory is an experience, an added polish to my information- not my knowing.
There is so much information that I have! There is so little that I know!
Momentum of Information
So deeply it is ingrained in me, this information rummaging and processing - training - so deeply! That I find contentment in having information. I imagine that information is knowing and I stop learning to know. This momentum of information gathering and processing does not wait for knowledge to evolve.
My Guru asked us to pinpoint one major roadblock in our practice of yoga (Oneness) and this is mine. My greatest block is me. It is my mind that confuses information with knowledge and seeks contentment in information (theory and applications) and never moves into the realm of knowing. Of transforming my concept of reality. Of living.
Very rightly said. General people have poisoning thoughts about intelligence,.., an intelligent and gonna be a successful person in near future{a laugh}. They even declare a child (3 yr old) an intelligent one when he/she sings whole poem for them without a pause in front of guest. Thus now a days in engineering interviewers don't focus on whether the interviewee has Google loaded in his/her brain. They focus on whether the person has required s/w which have the ability to smell the possible source of data and logically put the data in the required place. This needs maturity which comes with experience. See, way of understanding the facts is personal and one should have one. If one sticks to logic and planning(considering oneself), person will be helped greatly. "Coolness" adds a lot in ones personality, so be cool and don't forget to look yourself in mirror. And at last, nice post Gargi[:)].
ReplyDeleteDhruv, I am not looking into the physical mirror in my room [:P] [:D] It shows me the electrocuted-haired woman that I am. Nothing very new [:D] or remarkable!
Delete+ at last - is here!
'I can't digest it' is technically wrong because there is no 'I', no 'will' to our digestive system. So is 'learning' or 'knowing'. 'Learning' just happens and we can at the most control what we are attentive towards. But, thinking is somewhere in between, I guess. Like 'breathing'. I can control my breathing, but only upto certain extent. I cannot will to stop it. Similarly, I can 'will' to reason, think along a certain line of thought. But, certain associated thoughts or insights just pop-up by themselves. No wonder the more you know, the more the associated thoughts. With more information, mind definitely feels 'in control', like a 'pilot' of our 'self'. It is neither totally true, nor totally false.
ReplyDelete- Siva
Oh thank you Siva! Such an illuminating reply!! Thank you! I will spend lots many days digesting the information you gave until it eventually becomes my learning. Thankyou!! You showed me how desperate I am, even now, to control my learning! :D This is such self-revelation! Thank you! My 'I', the illusion in indeed very strong!
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