Beyond Knowledge

"Real knowledge is to know
the extent of one's ignorance"
- Confucius -

Socrates gave no diplomas or degrees and would
have subjected any disciple who demanded one to
a disconcerting catechism on the nature of
true knowledge.

"To attain Knowledge, add things every day.
To attain Wisdom, remove things every day."
* Lao Tzu *

KNOWLEDGE - Knowledgeability is not wisdom; knowedgeability is, on the contrary, a hindrance to wisdom. The more knowledgeable you become, the less is the possibility of attaining your own experience, because knowledge deceives - it deceives others, it deceives you. It goes on giving you a sense AS IF you know, but that "as if" has not to be forgotten. That "as if" can easily be forgotten and one can be deceived. - Remember one very significant saying in the Upanishads: Those who are ignorant, they are bound to be lost in darkness; and those who are knowledgeable, they are bound to be lost in a far bigger darkness than the ignorant ones. - The ignorant person is at least sincere: he knows that he does not know; at least this much truth is there. But the knowledgeable covers up his wounds, his ignorance, his black holes. He covers them with scriptures and he starts pretending that he knows. He is harming others, but that is secondary; far more significant is that he is harming himself. He will be lost in a far deeper darkness. - That's why it is very difficult for pundits, scholars, the so-called learned people, to become enlightened; it is a miracle if it happens at all. Sinners are more easily ready to go through the transformation because they have nothing to lose-except their chains, except their ignorance. But the knowledgeable person is afraid to lose his knowledge; that is his treasure. He clings to it, he protects it in every possible way. He finds rationalizations, excuses, why the knowledge has to be protected. But, in fact, by protecting his knowledge he is simply protecting his ignorance. Hidden
behind the knowledge is his ignorance. The knowledge is just a mask which covers his original face. You cannot see his original face, he himself cannot see it. He is wearing a mask, and looking in the mirror he thinks, "This is my original face." - It is very difficult for the knowledgeable to drop his knowledge and to become ignorant again. Unless he gathers enough courage to become ignorant again, to become like a child again-innocent, not knowing anything, what Dionysius calls AGNOSIA, moving into a state of not knowing ... It is certainly very arduous for the knowledgeable person - his whole LIFE he has been accumulating knowledge. He has wasted his whole life, he has invested his whole life in knowledge. How can he drop it? So he protects it, he FIGHTS for it. - And this is the most amazing thing in the world: the prisoner is fighting so that you cannot take him out of the prison! And of course he is very clever and very cunning, so he can play with words and he can quote scriptures, but all his quotations are parrotlike; he has no understanding. - Knowledge has its uses, it is not absolutely useless. But if you are going inwards it becomes more and more useless; the deeper you go the more useless it is. If you are going outwards, the farther you go into the world the more useful it becomes. The world respects the knowledgeable person. It needs experts; it needs all kinds of people carrying information, knowledge, expertise. But in the inner world the question does not arise: in the inner world the same knowledge becomes a hindrance. That which is useful in the outside world becomes a barrier to the inner. Knowledge is a bridge to the world; but it is a barrier to the inner exploration. - Knowledge tries to control. Knowledge makes you powerful. Ignorance makes you humble. So remember not to become knowledgeable. Never allow knowledge to collect around you. Every day, knowledge is accumulated through experience; every day, throw it away. It is dust that gathers on the mirror of consciousness...
Hence the seeker of truth has to leave behind all that he knows, all
knowledge as such, because it consists only of theories, assumptions,
beliefs, inferences, hypotheses, philosophies. It consists of all that
is borrowed from others, and you cannot know truth unless you are
totally free from all that has been taken from others. That is a
hindrance. It does not allow you innocence, it does not allow you
clarity, perceptiveness, transparency. --- So put aside all that is
borrowed, be utterly nude, naked like a small child, knowing nothing.
From that point the real journey begins. Wisdom is not far away from
a state of not-knowing; in fact half the journey is already complete.
The negative part you have already done, you have removed all the
rocks. Now you can wait, and the spring will start flowing. It was
hindered; now there is no hindrance it will start flowing. --- Man can
do only the negative part, the positive happens of its own accord. You
put aside knowledge and wisdom wells up. --- +