From Borrowed Knowledge to Personal Insights
have been writing for years now. Reading for even longer. It is hard to express that feeling when I think about those initial phases of reasons for writing. Those notes were highlights from books that I used to read with little or no thoughts of my own. Even when I used to have thoughts, I never prioritized them. The advice or views presented by others or ‘geniuses’ in their books were I believed far superior than my own. The entire note-taking system of mine, when I look back, was with the hope that these ideas and books I was reading would create some sort of a miracle breakthrough. Not to forget, knowing more and reading more was kind of a badge of honour. The number of books we read kind of gives us a sort of bragging right of knowledge. In our local language, we used to use the word, ‘gyan pelna,’ which means lecturing others with knowledge.
First of all, no one likes preachers. We all tend to despise these ‘gyan pelo geniuses.’ Yet, we all have seeds of this trait in us. Maybe this is a way of establishing moral superiority or some sort of high status in wisdom over others. It makes us look cool in front of others. We all try to look cool. Some try to look cool by showing off knowledge, others with appearance, and so on. This is basic human nature; we are constantly looking for a place in the social hierarchy, the higher the better. Not to be surprised, monkeys do the same. We are not monkeys, but not much different from them in many ways. Maybe we despise other moralizers because they challenge our own status in the hierarchy, which creates a clash. Humans, intentionally or unintentionally, fight for status, so do monkeys. Well, if it is a little comforting, monkeys don’t read books; we do. In a world where an immense amount of knowledge is available, we all can try to make castles with borrowed knowledge, trying to find that hidden gem which no one else has read but us. We hope to find knowledge hidden somewhere which will offer us some sort of an advantage over others. We try to read all the bestsellers on the list so we don’t miss out on that important piece of knowledge or information which may put us at a disadvantage compared to others. Books that are famous get even more famous because everyone wants to read them. Some call it confirmation bias; others call it a rat race. In both cases, it is basic human nature.
Borrowed knowledge is just borrowed, no matter how rare or famous it is. There were these ads I came across on IG about an app that teaches people math because, apparently, knowing math makes you look cool according to that app. No matter if it is cool or not, the ad was hitting at the right place—the need of humans to go up the social ladder. There is so much knowledge in the world, but it did not fall from the sky somehow; it was created. Created by humans. Of course, monkeys don’t create knowledge. At least I haven’t met or heard of one that does. We humans do. All those notes that I accumulated, highlights I saved, amounted to nothing new or valuable. It took me a while to realize that real value lay not in those ideas but in the meaning or understanding I drew from them. The focus should have been on my views and opinions or conclusions drawn from those readings. Those were the ideas that needed to be captured and refined instead of those highlights. That was the line between understanding and memorization. Actual value lies in the process of crafting our own opinions, which are a form of judgment. Those opinions are endeavours towards the creation of new knowledge. We all can create knowledge regardless of our status in the social hierarchy; we are not monkeys. We are humans.
As David Deutsch writes, “To a koala bear, whose ecological niche depends on eucalyptus leaves, eucalyptus is significant; to the knowledge-wielding ape, Homo sapiens, knowledge is significant.”