The Purpose of Knowledge

 The purpose of knowledge is not knowledge, but action.

Books, mentorship, school, and any kind of knowledge out there that is true and factual, is actually there to open your eyes — to see things not as you want them but as they are, and then you use what you see (and learn) to improve yourself, and your lifestyle.

This is why it’s crucially important and advantageous to learn from well-researched, well-informed schools and books, because it’s only too easy for the student to accumulate biased and distorted information, passed down from a different time and age, that has once evolved into something new and widely different.

Parenting may be the leading cause of distorted and biased mentorship. This is because parents and relatives can only preach what they themselves received and believe. And if the parents are not particularly skilled, disciplined, hard working, and mature, what they teach is most likely to be harmful.

As the child grows, they’ll encounter unique situations, and without great mentorship or genuine teachers prepared in advance, they have nowhere to go but back to their parents or worse, society, who are supposed to help the child maneuver successfully within these testing obstacles. The truth, again, is that parents will advise what they know and believe, not, in most cases, what is true and progressive. Because most likely what’s truly progressive is often uncertain, risky, and challenging.

To close, I am not shunning parents or schools — I am merely saying you have to do better than to receive information at face-value. To be a thinker, you have to appreciate the complexity and abundance of opinions in the world — and research, and then earn, what’s true and valuable for you — for your spirit.

A thinker is like a filter, in which truths as they pass through leave their best substance behind. — The Intellectual Life