We can’t use all of our knowledge. Since our knowledge is always under development there are parts that need work and are not stable for use. For use I mean to form an opinion or to use them to explore ideas further or defend current ones. We simply haven’t done enough processing.
You can use what is solid in your head and what has gone through your own personal filter, but past that you are still processing your accumulated knowledge until it takes form.
An analogy
Imagine you are building a house and you are adding new floors all the time. You can use a floor as a room only when it’s ready, so you can’t, at any particular point in time, use the whole house in its entirety. You can use a part of it. The part that is solid enough to be livable. You are building the 6th floor, currently unavailable, yet still part of the house, but you can only live on the 5th floor and below.
Surely you must have found yourself trying to explain an idea or express an opinion only to find out that you can’t. The thing you had a strong sense that you understood and that it was solidified in your head, it is not ready for use. It seems like you never understood it in the first place. You might question yourself and say that you are quick to accept anything. ‘How could I possibly be so naive’, rings inside your head.
But these are thoughts and opinions that are not yet ready for use. They are not ready to be elegantly expressed or communicated. They need more care, more work to be put into them, and going the extra mile on engaging in dialog and making conversations about them with other people. Oftentimes failing miserably to express yourself and your thoughts.
Knowledge is like a tower. You build it one story at a time. No rush, no delay either but with a steady pace, using it when it’s ready.
Knowledge is loading …
You can’t build the 7th floor if the 6th is not finished. Maybe if the 6th floor is 90% percent ready you could, since the last few things left are less important than the foundations or they are just details that can be taken care of later. But it shouldn’t be grossly under-build, ready to fall on your head, either.
You have to spend time with a particular subject in order to have any kind of knowledge or understanding of it, not just information that you remember or opinions that you have adopted along the way. The more connections you make in sub-subjects within a larger subject, the stronger and more robust your foundations will be. Of course, at any time you might discover a flaw in your thought process or a misunderstanding, that you should always try to rethink your position if you want to help yourself.
Like if you see a functional problem in your house, it is in your best interest to fix it or at least start improving it and not just look the other way pretending all is fine.
Your knowledge is your head house. Take care of it.
No matter how high or how elaborate your knowledge tower is, there is always room for improvement. With that being said, there is always room for expansion as well, making plans for the future and looking ahead from where you are at the time. You might be building your 6th floor but having plans on how the 10th or 11th floor will look like. Not to do sloppy work today but to have some sort of ideal to strive for in the future.
Knowledge is like a tower.
Knowledge is loading …