“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge”- Stephen Hawking

“Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad”

Knowledge is accumulation of information, learned through education or experience. On the other hand, wisdom is when you apply this knowledge. So, just having knowledge doesn’t mark any achievement. There is something more to it. Knowledge has significantly helped us to conquer the nature and this conquest has prompted human progress and civilization.

They say knowledge is power, ignorance is bliss, and happiness is striking a perfect balance. Let us face the fact that the world is not all rainbows and ponies. We are born to think, to learn, to innovate. Choosing to remain ignorant goes against human nature. The only question that remains is how much of knowledge is sufficient. When can we be called knowledgeable? Does knowledge have an end? Can I know everything? What is stopping me from achieving immense knowledge?

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge”

With knowledge come a few uninvited guests- ego, disrespect, arrogance and apathy. There is a very thin line between want and greed. Want is the thirst for knowledge where as greed is acquiring knowledge to brag about it. We generally find people from the former category but there are a few who belong to the latter category too. The only hindrance of such people to achieve success in true terms is their thought that they know everything. With great knowledge comes humility and with half knowledge comes arrogance.

Ego is the biggest enemy of human growth- both intellectually and spiritually. Those who suffer from an over inflated ego may put up barriers that prevent them from truly connecting with people and improving their horizons. Many individuals with this problem feel that they have no need to change any aspect of their personality or life. This unwillingness to change and adapt or accept new things hinders the growth of human. One believes that knowing what one knows is sufficient and he doesn’t enlighten himself with any further knowledge. This is wrong. Knowledge is a very vast ocean and we stand with just two hands to collect however little we can. No matter how much we learn there is always something more that we can learn. The illusion that we have knowledge is created by false ego. This prevents us from acquiring more knowledge.

The illusion of knowledge is one’s faulty, judgmental, dubious assumptions about a thing or fact. Our failures are the indicators of our illusion of knowledge of the goal we strive for. Great people overcame the illusion of knowledge. They saw things in their totality. They did thorough analysis of all the facts before coming to a conclusion. They ascertained every minute detail of the problem they were aiming to solve. Thus this illusion of knowledge did not affect them.

Lack of knowledge on an issue is less of a problem. You can counter this with facts, but people who wrongly assume that they have knowledge and understanding of facts rarely listen to others. It is much more in the domain of people skills that this adage works. This amour propre doesn’t let them heed to others suggestions or advice. This is the true defeat of knowledge as the very purpose of it is lost- to educate the people and remove myths and disbelief. One forgets that knowledge in spite of being shared with other only increases.

Progress in any field is only possible by developing rational thinking through use of knowledge. It distinguished the human race from animals and yet our illusion brings us back to naught.

“The pursuit of knowledge is never ending. The day you stop seeking knowledge is the day you stop growing”

Knowledge is like a garden, if it is not cultivated, it cannot be harvested. Life is a never ending learning process. Learning in life should not be limited within the realms of school boundaries. It should extend beyond to widen the horizons of our mind and enhance our thinking capabilities. One must always keep the path open for new experiences- always willing to learn new things, discovering the unfamiliar and venturing into terrains that previously looked difficult and challenging. These lead us to be a better person. The world is a big whirlpool of knowledge. There are always things you didn’t know and facts you were not aware of. The positive aspect is there is no age bar to the learning process. Engage yourself to learn that which you don’t know. This way we can keep our false ego at bay.

We must always engage ourselves in getting more and more knowledge and stop at nothing. Through increasing knowledge we will receive personal enrichment and fulfillment. It will give us great capability to help others. It will help us to deal with vicissitudes of life better.

The main and unforgettable advantage of increasing your knowledge is that it can help you to become a more humble individual because you will find as you increase in knowledge, how ignorant you really are. Now, you may not think humility is a good quality to possess but the fact of the matter is that you can’t go up until you come down.

Living busy and hectic lifestyles makes it difficult to think about learning new things and trying something new. But we could be really missing out both personally and professionally. It is important to try new things and push yourself out of your comfort zone. The potential benefits are really huge and to be honest, there is nothing to lose. Success and learning are two sides of the same coin.

If somebody lived in one city his whole life he would not find pleasure in travelling. But once he does leave the city, he realizes how much rewarding it was. He would travel more and more places. The more you learn the more you want to learn. Therefore the quest for knowledge becomes an endless endeavor.

I would like to conclude by quoting Albert Einstein, “intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death”.