"Knowledge isn't given.
Knowledge is to be taken.
It is taken through a process of deep questioning.
The intent of Questioning is not to prove someone right/wrong, but driven by the need of a real quest."
I came across this perspective recently and it made so much sense. As I pondered over the "quest" being referred to in this context, it is THAT insatiable thirst to quench one's curiosity and gain a better understanding of the world - both the external and the internal.
But somewhere down the road, many of us have either
- lost the connection with our inherent curiosity
- lost the will to pursue where our curiosity might take us
- started to look for easy, quick-fix solutions
- started to rely on a single person or a resource that would hand over all the knowledge that we needed on a platter
- decided to wait for the right knowledge to come knocking at our doorsteps
- settled with commonly held beliefs and notions about life, values, and goals
- adopted certain ideologies and principles but kept switching them depending on what was popular and trending
- pushed ourselves to a point of high distraction that we no longer feel the urge to sharpen our intellect
We are living in times where information is abundant and easily accessible by all. But the efforts to synthesize, assimilate, apply, experiment, absorb, and align with our learned experiences are likely missing.
Let's take a simple example. We bookmark so many posts (recipes, book reviews, interesting insights, tips and tricks, health guidelines, etc). Among the bookmarked ones, how many have we gone back and looked at and taken some action on?
Let's invest some time every day, nurturing the sapling of curiosity.
Water it with new ideas and perspectives.
Nourish it with the fertilizer of authentic, reliable sources of knowledge that have stood the test of time.
Sprinkle the manure of deep questioning.
Prune the unwanted weeds that lurk around in the form of self-judgments, self-doubt, and lack of visibility into where it might lead us.
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