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Knowledge & Insights
"Knowledge is knowing what to say.
Wisdom is knowing when to say it."
Perception is to do with the senses, with the things you experience by seeing and hearing. Perception and experience go hand in hand. How? Experience is the most basic source of knowledge. And perception is experiencing things first hand with your senses.
There is a view that supports experience as being the primary source of knowledge, in other words: empiricism.
Reason is to do with the mind. Reason is the ability of your mind to think, understand, and then be able to form a logical judgment.
There are two ways you can acquire knowledge by reason. One is by making a judgment based on existing knowledge, while the other is a priori. A priori knowledge is not dependent on experience to arrive at truths. Rather, it is based on pure reason. For instance, in mathematics, 2+2=4. You don’t need any kind of experience to arrive at this kind of judgment. It is totally based on reasoning. “A dog is an animal” is another example of a priori knowledge.
There is a view that states that the acquisition of knowledge is basically through reason, in other words: rationalism.
Introspection is a form of perception. Introspection is an individual thing. There are some things no one else can know about you except you. Introspection is the knowledge you get about yourself when you evaluate yourself. For instance, you know you are tired, or you know you need to eat.
Simply put, introspection is the first-hand knowledge of yourself when you study yourself.
When you experience or learn things, they are stored in your mind. Your memory helps you to receive knowledge, make sense of it, retain it, and retrieve it whenever you need it. Your memory is your primary source of knowledge since it helps you receive and retain knowledge.
However, it is not the primary source of acquiring knowledge because sometimes the memory fails, and that’s when you go to alternative sources such as the internet, books, or people.
Almost everything you know is learned from the testimony of people around you. While growing up, your parents told you a lot of things. Your teachers at school taught you a lot of things. You listen to the news and read books.
You didn’t experience most of the things you know first-hand, people taught you. So a lot of the knowledge you have gained and will gain were and will be by testimony.
There is no wisdom without knowledge, but you can have knowledge and still not qualify to be described as a wise person. From Spurgeon’s definition, you can see that knowledge comes first before wisdom. And it is not wisdom yet if you haven’t used or applied knowledge the right way.
It’s not everything you know that is beneficial to you. Some knowledge is good, and some others are harmful. So the ability to discern which is right and what is wrong and then act on what is right is wisdom. It is the ability to discern knowledge that applies to your life situation and the one that is not.
Although we are told that wisdom means rightfully applying or using knowledge. To apply or use it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to always act.
Wisdom is as simple as knowing there is a vehicle speeding in your direction and waiting for it to pass before crossing to the other side of the road.
Sometimes, wisdom isn’t rushing into actions just because you think you know what it is that you are supposed to do. It is also wise if you can relax, wait, observe, pause before taking a step of action.
Wisdom is not an innate thing. Nobody has it. But through experience, you can acquire more wisdom and become wiser.
So wisdom isn’t something you possess, like owning a personal belonging. You weren’t born with it, and it isn’t passed down to you through family genes. Wisdom is a verb. You do wisdom. You cannot obtain wisdom like you obtain a goal, just like knowledge, it is a continuous thing. So when you act on knowledge, you become wiser.
By definition, insight is the ability “to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something.” Insight is a deep and accurate perception of a situation or a problem. It is seeing better. It’s intuition.
Insight is knowledge but not the kind that you get by learning or experiencing things.
This kind of knowledge is sudden, opening your mind to an understanding of things you had no idea about just a moment ago. It’s like a sixth sense.
You can develop insight, by experience, and consistent use of wisdom.
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