Knowledge is NOT Power

I spent a great chunk of my adult life believing that knowledge is power, only to discover that this is not true. And as with many false beliefs, it contains an element of truth, but it’s not the whole truth.

To understand why “knowledge is power” is not true, we have to first understand the role knowledge is meant to play in our lives.

Knowledge is our way of grasping the nature of the reality we are living in and our nature as human beings. We seek to know, then to understand, not for the sake of knowing and understanding, but for the sake of discovering what we should do to effectively deal with our environment.

In other words, knowledge is a stepping stone we use in order to live proper lives, and it is impossible to bypass knowledge. There is absolutely no substitute for it.

But knowledge is not an end, but a means to an end.

It only becomes useful – and powerful – when it is applied through action. If it is not applied, it’s meaningless. The power of knowledge comes through its application and not in its acquisition. You can have all the knowledge of the world accessible to you, but if you don’t apply that knowledge into your life, your chances of survival – let alone success and prosperity – are minimal.

In fact, if you haven’t been applying any of your knowledge into your life, chances are you’re already dead 😛

If you want to win the lottery, knowing what the numbers are will not make you rich.

Knowing the numbers and BUYING THE TICKET will.

To be successful, you must rid yourself of the idea that knowledge is valuable for the sake of knowledge and look for ways in which you can apply your knowledge in order to enhance the quality of your life.