"The purpose of knowledge is action, not knowledge", Aristotle one of the most knowledgeable persons once said.
If one acquires all the possible knowledge and do not act when the need arises, then he is no different from a person who knows nothing.
Having said that, it's not at all advisable to check each and every time whether the knowledge will ever be put into action, when one gets a chance to gain it. If that was the case I would have never passed my history exams. For instance, I mugged and mugged to remember details of Panipat wars I, II, III as who had defeated whom and in which year these unnecessary events happened. Knowingly well that this knowledge would be of no use for me if at all another war breaks out in Panipat and I have to participate in it ! The whole idea of knowing these was to score some marks. As question pertaining to these details of any one of the wars was almost certain. My use of that knowledge ended then-and-there with some action left for my "historian" teacher to put a red tick/cross mark.
In certain occasions, it is better not to have full knowledge of the subject. If one is found with a useless tumor growing in his body and that needs to be removed ( I wonder if any doctor has ever found a useful tumor which can be retained), it is advisable to know only that much. Beyond that what the surgeon will do, which fork and knife he will use, how much blood you will lose, how much sweat the doctor will lose, these questions you can reserve. Reserved to be asked if you wake up from the anesthesia and if you are able to speak up. Else anyways acquiring that knowledge is useless !!
Not knowing fully what is in store before taking an action is also a blessing at times. That might be the reason many things are done to us when we are a small child. Ear piercing, major vaccines many such painful things are done at tender age. Take the case of learning swimming - a small child is able to learn it much faster, why? Partly because his/her body is very flexible and their limbs can move in any unwanted direction in water, even if they wish not to do so. Partly because they do not know the consequences on what will happen if oxygen supply is cut off to them for a while. Partly because how much chlorinated and "ureated" water they will have to drink initially from the swimming pool !!
My friend Sridhar was excellent in mathematics. Any complex mathematical problem, Sridhar would be able to solve it in seconds. Probably his brain was fully packed with all formulas and equations, there was not much space left in it to acquire any other useless stuff. Once Sridhar was traveling in a bus and to his bad luck, a foreigner from Europe was sitting next to him. Imagine the situation, it was in Madras city and the bus was an ordinary one by the transport company in the name of extraordinary Cheran. Naturally the European had to sweat irrespective of which part of the year. A few drops fell on Sridhar's hand as he was alighting from the bus. Sridhar did not sleep for a few days till our next maths exam was announced. He was worried that he would get afflicted by HIV virus that would have been abundantly swimming left, right & center in the European's sweat. Sridhar was dead sure of that fact seeing the foreigner's casual dress code and "careless" attitude, such thing would definitely be possible !!
Know more, act more. But do not hesitate to act just because you don't know what you will learn by that action. And swiftly get into action, if you think that your knowledge is of some use in that situation.
If one acquires all the possible knowledge and do not act when the need arises, then he is no different from a person who knows nothing.
Having said that, it's not at all advisable to check each and every time whether the knowledge will ever be put into action, when one gets a chance to gain it. If that was the case I would have never passed my history exams. For instance, I mugged and mugged to remember details of Panipat wars I, II, III as who had defeated whom and in which year these unnecessary events happened. Knowingly well that this knowledge would be of no use for me if at all another war breaks out in Panipat and I have to participate in it ! The whole idea of knowing these was to score some marks. As question pertaining to these details of any one of the wars was almost certain. My use of that knowledge ended then-and-there with some action left for my "historian" teacher to put a red tick/cross mark.
In certain occasions, it is better not to have full knowledge of the subject. If one is found with a useless tumor growing in his body and that needs to be removed ( I wonder if any doctor has ever found a useful tumor which can be retained), it is advisable to know only that much. Beyond that what the surgeon will do, which fork and knife he will use, how much blood you will lose, how much sweat the doctor will lose, these questions you can reserve. Reserved to be asked if you wake up from the anesthesia and if you are able to speak up. Else anyways acquiring that knowledge is useless !!
Not knowing fully what is in store before taking an action is also a blessing at times. That might be the reason many things are done to us when we are a small child. Ear piercing, major vaccines many such painful things are done at tender age. Take the case of learning swimming - a small child is able to learn it much faster, why? Partly because his/her body is very flexible and their limbs can move in any unwanted direction in water, even if they wish not to do so. Partly because they do not know the consequences on what will happen if oxygen supply is cut off to them for a while. Partly because how much chlorinated and "ureated" water they will have to drink initially from the swimming pool !!
My friend Sridhar was excellent in mathematics. Any complex mathematical problem, Sridhar would be able to solve it in seconds. Probably his brain was fully packed with all formulas and equations, there was not much space left in it to acquire any other useless stuff. Once Sridhar was traveling in a bus and to his bad luck, a foreigner from Europe was sitting next to him. Imagine the situation, it was in Madras city and the bus was an ordinary one by the transport company in the name of extraordinary Cheran. Naturally the European had to sweat irrespective of which part of the year. A few drops fell on Sridhar's hand as he was alighting from the bus. Sridhar did not sleep for a few days till our next maths exam was announced. He was worried that he would get afflicted by HIV virus that would have been abundantly swimming left, right & center in the European's sweat. Sridhar was dead sure of that fact seeing the foreigner's casual dress code and "careless" attitude, such thing would definitely be possible !!
Know more, act more. But do not hesitate to act just because you don't know what you will learn by that action. And swiftly get into action, if you think that your knowledge is of some use in that situation.
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