knowledge ≠ understanding

I feel jacked after a good reading / note taking session. I go out into the world skippity doo dah to share my newly attained knowledge.

I’m quickly b*tch slapped by reality as I’m tested on my intellect by my friends and everyone else around me.

N̴o̴w̴ ̴I̴’̴m̴ ̴s̴h̴a̴m̴i̴n̴g̴ ̴m̴y̴s̴e̴l̴f̴ ̴f̴o̴r̴ ̴n̴o̴t̴ ̴a̴c̴t̴u̴a̴l̴l̴y̴ ̴k̴n̴o̴w̴i̴n̴g̴ ̴w̴h̴a̴t̴ ̴I̴ ̴k̴n̴o̴w̴.̴ ̴

Whoa, let’s take a step back and a big breather.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆, 𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖.

“This is a crisis of our minds. A cognition crisis.

A cognition crisis is not defined by a lack of information, knowledge or skills. We have done a fine job in accumulating those and passing them along across millennia. Rather, this a crisis at the core of what makes us human: the dynamic interplay between our brain and our environment — the ever-present cycle between how we perceive our surroundings, integrate this information, and act upon it.” -Adam Gazzaley, in his Medium Article “The Cognition Crisis”

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙸𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝙰𝚐𝚎 we live in has not only bloated our brains with unmanageable information, topics and stimuli but also it has made it nearly impossible to keep up with what we already know let alone integrate it into things that actually matter.

Have you ever felt intimidated by someone who you thought was smarter than you? Everything they say flies over your head a million miles an hour, you have almost no input because you have no idea what they’re talking about.

I see this repetition a lot with claimed “Spiritual Beings” and Activists” on social media. They make Facebook rants over political articles, self love Instagram posts or claim to hold the ultimate truth after watching a documentary on the universe…

Learn to question your own knowledge

Even if you know intellectually about emotional intelligence and mindfulness, that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to overcome intuitive thoughts and feelings 5 minutes before a job interview or getting in conflict with someone, making a public speech or jumping out of a plane.

Even if you take a “Body Positive” photo and post it for the world, doesn’t mean everyday is easy. It doesn’t mean the instant likes you get is instant security in your own skin. Just because you know what is good for you, you know what steps to take towards loving and accepting yourself fully doesn’t mean you fully understand what loving and accepting yourself is in a moment to moment basis. Self love is not an Instagram post.

*TIP* After reading something you’ve learned. Write or think about the ways you can use that knowledge in real time to better help your personal growth, or relate it to someone else’s life. Ask: “now that I know about emotional intelligence, how can I study my emotions everyday to create a broader awareness of them?”

Don’t build a concept of yourself

If the means to attaining knowledge, the feeling of enlightenment or reading books is just for means of getting an ego boost and talking smart………

We’re going backwards.

𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒂 𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒂𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒘𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍. 𝑰𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒂 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆. 𝑰𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒐𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏.

Having a concept of yourself is not the same as understanding yourself.

We can know that we have an anger issue, that doesn’t mean we understand when we’ll blow our fuse or say something out of line. We can know we have trust issues, that doesn’t mean we understand where they came from.

Having concepts, ideas and information about the world doesn’t mean you understand how the world works.

We don’t always consider opposing beliefs, facts and perspectives of others because of a subconscious fear of loss. We don’t always like being questioned what we know, we don’t like being told we’re wrong. We’ll even go as far as to get defensive about what we believe to know, our emotions rise to protect our egos. Protect ourselves from feeling …. like …. we just don’t know.

We like to believe we know more than we actually know.

Use what you know and relate it to your life

Rather than just spitting information at someone about a book you read — open your knowledge as a means to having conversation.

Use your knowledge to become observant of the people you’re sharing with. They picking up what you’re putting down? Or do they look like they’d rather be anywhere else but the conversation? Your knowledge is useless if you don’t use it to relate to your life and the ones around you.

I’m not too interested in a conversation when someone feels too chatty about what they know — I’m more interested when the knowledge is some how circled back to me, I feel I have a purpose in the discussion or in the midst of learning.

EXAMPLE:

Don’t just talk to someone about the concept of emotional intelligence.

Talk about how they can use emotional intelligence to deidentify from their feelings of shame and lack of intelligence and better understand where their feelings are coming from, and how to move with them rather than the emotions overcoming them.

Don’t fight over intellect, have presence

Your presence will speak louder than your words.

Accept what you know now to be good enough. Louder than the knowledge you attain is going to be how you carry yourself. If you’re unsure of what you know, yet you smile and are willing to admit your wrong — that shows character. People are going to be more willing to help you understand something you don’t in more simpler terms, if you ask for it.

Help others to understand the things you know. The best use of your knowledge, and to better understand your knowledge is to share it to the world around you.

I am in the learning process. This post is just me, repeating back to myself what I already know. Originally, I wanted to call this post “How To Wake Up” but that’s, truly a laugh. There’s so many mornings I wake up having an existential crisis from letting my thoughts run me, or making bad decisions like scrolling on my phone right away in the morning and stumbling into anxiety and self doubt. I don’t always meditate, I don’t always practice mindfulness. Sometimes I forget what I know. Some days I royally f*ck up.

But… I’m here.

𝑲𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆. 𝑾𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒘𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒆.

At the end of the day, we’re all human. We make typos and not everyone agrees with us, but the best thing we can do is to try to become more understanding individuals. Testing our knowledge and become good critics of what we view online. Use our knowledge to better understand ourselves and what makes us who we are, how we can better ourselves and create lasting relationships through the knowledge we share ❤

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https://medium.com/@cinimist/knowledge-understanding-destroy-the-concept-of-yourself-relate-to-life-946e12a6fef2