So much of what we call learning today is simply an accumulation of facts. According to the Pareto Principle, we can surmise that 80% of what we could call beneficial knowledge comes from just 20% of what we study and learn. That means we learn a lot of useless information. What we are striving for is not information, but knowledge. Or more precisely, the benefits of knowledge.
Perhaps what we learn is useless because we don’t apply what we learn in our lives. We can read all we want about love, but until we actually start loving we don’t have a clue as to what it is, and therefore, we cannot benefit from it. A life without love, after all, is most unlovely.
We can read about poise, but if we don’t practice it in real life situations, it will abandon us when we most need it. Reading about forgiveness isn’t the same as forgiving. And a man can talk all night about love to his female companion, but only “I love you” is going to succeed in getting her to lay down and take off her clothes.
Book knowledge is meaningless unless we apply it to life. This is especially true as it applies to personal development. With any aspect of personal development, the information takes you just so far.
Choose what you will: consciousness, greatness, confidence, self-reliance, poise, meditation, communication — to actually master any of these areas you need to practice and integrate them into life. Then you can benefit from them. Then you can experience a dynamic life to its full potential.
I came across the following story yesterday from a book called The Art of Living by William Hart. It illustrates my point perfectly:
Once a young professor was making a sea voyage. He was a highly educated man with a long tail of letters after his name, but he had little experience of life. In the crew of the ship on which he was traveling was an illiterate old sailor. Every evening the sailor would visit the cabin of the young professor to listen to him hold forth on many different subjects. He was very impressed with the learning of the young man.
One evening as the sailor was about to leave the cabin after several hours of conversation, the professor asked, “Old man, have you studied geology?”
“What is that, sir?”
“The science of the earth.”
“Old man, you have wasted a quarter of your life.”
With a long face the old sailor went away. “If such a learned person says so, certainly it must be true,” he thought. “I have wasted a quarter of my life!”
Next evening again as the sailor was about to leave the cabin, the professor asked him, “Old man, have you studied oceanography?”
“What is that, sir?”
“The science of the sea.”
“No sir, I have never studied anything.” “Old man, you have wasted half your life.”
With a still longer face the sailor went away: “I have wasted half my life; this learned man says so.”
Next evening once again the young professor questioned the old sailor: “Old man, have you studied meteorology?”
What is that, Sir? 1 have never even heard of it.”
“Why, the science of the wind, the rain, the weather.”
“No sir, As I told you, I have never been to any school. I have never studied anything.”
“What? You have not studied the science of the earth on which you live? And you have not studied the science of the sea on which you earn your livelihood. And you have not studied the science of the weather which you encounter every day. Old man, you have wasted three quarters of your life.”
The old sailor was very unhappy: “This learned man says that I have wasted three quarters of my life! Certainly I must have wasted three quarters of my life.”
The next day it was the turn of the old sailor. He came running into the cabin of the young man and cried, “Professor sir, have you studied swimology?”
“Swimology? What do you mean?”
“Can you swim, sir?”
“No, I don’t know how to swim,” said the professor.
“Professor sir, you have wasted all your life! The ship has struck a rock and is sinking. Those who can swim may reach the nearby shore, but those who cannot swim will drown. I am so sorry, professor sir, you have surely lost your life.”
Likewise, you can read all the literature in the world on personal development, but until you put the information into practice, the reading will do you no good. There is no benefit to learning spirituality if you can’t love your neighbor or even feel your own heart’s longing for the Divine.
This is what life is for. It’s a workshop, an opportunity to learn and grow by doing and living. Otherwise, life is a wasted opportunity and we likely end up like the young professor, on a sinking ship not knowing how to swim.
