Knowledge is meant to help survive in a complex world without overloading it with unnecessary excess knowledge, which can slow down responding to external threats or distract from them.
In routine matters, the mind favors quick solutions, mechanical and instinctive responses, and surface thinking based on the need to know as part of the survival instinct. As much as possible he ignores complexity and limits himself to the obvious and the visible.
If you want to be a true seeker of knowledge, the search for truth must start from within, with self-transformation as the first step. It is by clearing the mind of ordinary errors, by paying close attention to and contemplating things that are observed or experienced so that knowledge becomes refined and purified and gains the light of truth and wisdom.
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have had a hard time knowing the reality around them with their faculties. The problem is still there. It's not that our education isn't perfect, or that we don't try enough. Because humans are created that way. By design, we are finite beings with limited capacities.
The mind often uses shortcuts in knowing and understanding to save time and energy.
In the process, the knowledge gained or the process is disrupted.
The following are some important reflections on knowledge, perception, knowing and not knowing. Please think about them deeply and draw your own conclusions. They are useful for cultivating tolerance, humility, an open mind and an understanding that truth is relative to the knower and his knowledge and experience.
Knowledge limit
There is a limit to human knowledge just as there is a limit to the mind and senses. Omniscient consciousness does not arise in us. Due to our physical and mental limitations, we cannot see far, or think forever.
While we may be proud of our accomplishments and small acts of greatness, our journey is limited to brief moments in the history of the universe. However, that is no reason for us to remain indifferent or do nothing.
We have a universe within, which awaits our exploration, study and understanding. It is there that we have hope of discovering the truth of the countless times we live and freedom from the shackles of existence.
In seeking knowledge there are three important factors, what you want to know, how to know and the truth.
They in turn depend on our desires, attachments, and priorities. Different people seek different things in life and may use different methods. Therefore, their knowledge is never the same and they do not all see the world in the same way.
All three factors are important, but the last one must be the end and the first two must be the means leading to the truth of the things we know, learn and observe.
Any pursuit of knowledge without a commitment to truth leads to delusion and ignorance.What and what can be known?
Learning is a feeble attempt of the mind to bridge the gap between what exists and what can be known. What it is, or the reality of our existence, or the nature of things in their universality, is vast, unfathomable, and infinite.
Our minds can only perceive a small part of it. Therefore, reality and what we know as "reality" represent two truths. When they are very different, we suffer from delusions or illusions, and what the scriptures call ignorance. We should try to bridge the gap as far as possible, clearing the mind of its shortcomings and impurities.
In the process of knowing, knowing is a barrier and a limit
Without knowing, knowing is impossible, but with him, knowing is compromised. Knowledge and perception depend on the person, his state of mind, learning, intelligence, desires, attachments, beliefs, familiarity with perceived reality and so on.
Therefore, if you want to know better, you must become better through self-transformation by developing detachment, commonality, non-judgmental awareness and equanimity.
Knowledge barrier
We are the limiting factor in the search for knowledge. We block knowledge and perception. As far as we are involved with the field of observation or activity, we deny true knowledge and wisdom.
To overcome this problem, one has to practice self-control, restrain and withdraw the mind and senses, silence the mind and ego and be a passive witness.
What is known?
What we know is known only to us. Others may know it but differently. Even though we live in the same world and are conditioned by it to adhere to certain norms, we experience the world differently according to our circumstances, knowledge, consciousness and personality factors.
Thus, our perceptions, knowledge and intelligence are also different and thus our worldviews, priorities, preferences and approaches are also different. We must embrace this uniqueness, and at the same time acknowledge and respect the uniqueness of others.
Perception
Perception mostly becomes aware of what we already know. At the sight of something, the mind begins to compare, distinguish, and categorize it according to known or remembered knowledge.
Perception relies on memory to recognize objects and understand them
Without the help of memory, perceptions would remain incomplete or unregistered. This is both a blessing and a hindrance. This is a hindrance because most of the time we hardly see the object, but rather the memories or impressions stored from it. The same thing happens to a person's relationship, where it doesn't look at the person but the impression about them.
Experience
Experience is an illusion because events and perceptions are always different
No event or experience of events ever repeats itself in exactly the same way. Repeated experiences of the same object or event may be similar but not the same.
In mindfulness, the observer has the advantage of seeing the different features of each experience and a better opportunity to develop wisdom and right knowledge.
Acknowledging the uniqueness of each experience is the key to practicing mindfulness and staying in the present
Reality and thought
The fact that something exists does not mean it exists as we think. Things exist as things in the external world with certain essential features or properties, but in our minds as mental constructs or ideas, which are unique to our state of mind, knowledge, and other personal factors and which do not always correspond to real things.
Any existence due to knowledge that depends on our mind may be real or imaginary, depending on our subjective state. Therefore, we cannot fully rely on it.
Awareness
Knowledge is limited by awareness and consciousness is limited by knowledge. However, right knowledge is the basis of right consciousness.
Both are limited by ourselves. Being aware of something does not mean having true knowledge about it, unless it has overcome the fundamental problems we have with perception, experience, and knowledge.
It is difficult to say whether knowledge leads to awareness or awareness leads to knowledge. Maybe the two are mutually reinforcing.
Both arise in the field of experience when the mind is free from its usual impurities.
Subject and object
In knowing, the object participates in the nature of the subject insofar as the subject is involved with the object
We pay special attention to certain aspects of the things we observe according to our likes or dislikes or our desires and attachments.
Therefore, although we may collect impressions and images from the outside world, they become modified by our thoughts. This can often lead to many problems in life. Unless we withdraw from the field of observation and do not engage ourselves, we cannot see things as they really are and develop right knowledge.
Reasons and wishes
When, reason is twisted by desire, truth is compromised
Desire is the root of suffering. Desire clogs our minds and corrupts our perceptions, judgments and wisdom, without which there would be no right consciousness or right knowledge.
Prejudice, rationalizations, generalizations, logical fallacies, hidden agendas, self-deception, self-induced delusions, self-denial, etc., are products of twisted reason alone.
Understanding desires and motivations and solving them is essential to arriving at the truth of things and seeing them for what they are.
