Knowledge, wisdom are meant to be shared

August 15, 2024 · 0 Comments

by MARK PAVILONS

“If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it.” – Margaret Fuller

Very sound advice, indeed.

Our entire species and our history is built on accumulated knowledge. From our earliest ancestors who created fire and the wheel, to today’s cutting-edge medicine and space exploration, our knowledge is expanding exponentially.

Thanks to the internet of all things, we can access, decipher and yes, share this newfound information. Offering it is one thing, but all we know you can lead our fellow horses to water, but we can’t make them drink.

It’s been said we are all born ignorant but “one must work hard to remain stupid.”

That pretty much sums up humankind.

Helen Keller once noted that “knowledge is love and light and vision.”

We are all walking encyclopaedias to an extent. Just think about it – illions of knowledge-hungry souls are wandering the planet in search of ideas, methods, solutions, experiences, love and beauty. Our combined knowledge, put into a compact USB drive, and inserted into every human brain, would make us all immortal!

Ok, a bit over the top, but my point is we are all capable of absorbing a ton of information and forming ideas, opinions and emotions.

We don’t really think about it on a daily basis, but it’s estimated the average person’s brain processes 74 GB of data every day. That’s more than the storage of our laptops and is equivalent to the images, sights, sounds from streaming every episode of Game of Thrones (73 episodes, ~1GB each) or streaming every piece of music ever composed by both Vivaldi (235 hrs.) & Mozart (240 hrs.) (6.6 hrs/GB).

What’s more is that amount increases each and every year. By comparison, this is more than our ancestors processed in an entire lifetime.

Our brains are nifty gadgets, perfectly designed to filter information, selecting a few worth noting and filing away all the rest.

As Michio Kaku once wrote, “Sitting on your shoulders is the most complicated object in the known universe.”

Okay, Michio, what to do with such a biological supercomputer?

Most of us take it for granted and park most of our gray matter while surfing the net or browsing Instagram. Others process more when doing something creative – composing music, writing code, debating politics, even star-gazing.

Just having a conversation is not only mental exercise, it’s what we humans were meant to do – xchange thoughts and ideas. From the early teaching of the likes of Socrates and Plato, humans were encouraged to “think out of the box” and share. There have always been people with varying levels of intelligence and street smarts. The idea is for all of us to come together in a verbal and mental tug of war, so to speak.

In my line of work, I see this every day and it continues to make me smile. I read a vast array of submissions, facts and opinion pieces and watch as my fellow humans devour it all and come to very different conclusions. Oh, the humanity (but not in the Hindenburg sort of way).

My job is tremendously satisfying in that I get to pick the brains of almost everyone I encounter, gathering tidbits like a kid with an Easter basket. When my basket is full, I sort through these precious “eggs,” keeping the best and tossing the rest. And then I repeat the process.

In the end, I acquire a huge database of knowledge, things I would never be able to learn on my own, through my own experiences.

For that I am tremendously grateful.

And what do I do with all of this? Well, I share it, of course, with you, my readers. From local business openings and social issues, to climate change and political unrest, the information is laid out, for all to see. Again, what others do with this is up to them. Everyone’s Easter basket is unique and subjective. For me, writing is sharing.

This is how adults learn. This is how we obtain and sift through some of those daily gigabytes.

Ram Dass noted: “Each of us finds his unique vehicle for sharing with others his bit of wisdom.”

If we are good at something, pass it on! Billy Graham pointed out we are not “cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.”

And our ability to share isn’t confined to facts and figures. More importantly, we can spread joy, understanding, empathy, love and form bridges where none existed. We can share a meal, a smile, a gesture.

Talent doesn’t object to sharing, so why should we?

We can all be teachers in our own right, on a regular basis. Not only can we share ideas, we can share our pain, our struggles and our hardships. We can heal together.

If you think about it, our relationships and friendships contain all of these things. We tend to be stingy or selective with what we share, but in certain circles, I think the gloves are off, and the sharing rule book is out the window. We may not be in the same boat, but we’re navigating the same storm.

It’s been said that the biggest communication problem is we don’t listen to understand; we listen to reply.

We can’t lose the art of sharing and caring with one another. It’s essential to what we are.

What we need to do is connect more – n person, at community events, through emails and social media and by absorbing knowledge. We need to save each other from dashing down virtual rabbit holes, pulling one another up with all our might.

Going barefoot, hugging a tree, embracing our loved ones (including the four-legged or feathered ones) should be daily occurrences.

And a good debate over a pint at the local pub never hurt.

What say you?