I will not delve into the details of learning techniques, or how short-term and long-term memory work, etc. Perhaps we can discuss those another day. Today, I want to focus on sharing my perspective on knowledge.
Although I am a techie but this applies to any field — whether you are into cooking , sports , tech , teaching , studying- it doesn’t matter. It also doesn’t matter which age group you belong to , I believe it applies to everyone.
- Stage 1 — This is the starting point where an individual realize they lack knowledge about a subject or a topic and decides to learn about it. It could be a new technology like AI, which, as someone being working in tech industry, you feel the need to understand in details to better support your job requirements. Or, you may want to learn about gardening because you wish to take it up as a hobby. It could also be a physical fitness journey because it’s January, and you have set one of those New year’s resolution. No matter the subject, this is the step where you begin.
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2. Stage 2 — In this stage, you gain some basic knowledge about the topic through any of the following methods:
Watching a YouTube video
Reading articles on google
Reading a book
Attending a talk or session with a colleague or friend
Learning through educational institutions (school or collage)
At this stage, you understand the basics and gain a general sense of the topic. Your initial thoughts may fall into one of the two categories:
“Oh it’s not that difficult; I understand this!” Based on your interest, requirement, or needs, you may feel satisfied with the knowledge you have gained and stop there or choose to explore the subject further.
On the flip side, after learning some details , you might conclude “this isn’t for me” In that case, you decided not to invest more time and money on the subject and end your pursuit there.
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3. Stage 3 — At this stage, individuals from the first category who decided to pursue the subject further are heavily invested and choose to delve deeper into the topic or subject.
Join online or offline courses
Read a couple more books
Join one or two groups
Enroll in a higher education institution
Find work related to this topic
The outcome of this stage is that you gain a deeper understanding of the subject, learning the details of how certain aspects work and why things are the way they are. People may start identifying you as an expert in academics terms or as a ‘’subject matter expert’’ if you choose the route of learning through work. At this stage, you may feel that you know everything about the subject ; with 100% knowledge, there is little incentives to spend more time or money on further learning. This is because you may have solved one or two problems or applied the knowledge in a few scenarios. You concluded at this stage,” I know it all”.
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4. Stage 4 — This stage is for individuals who are a genuine quest for knowledge about the subject and exhibit deep passion for it . Their quest to learn more has transformed into a ‘hunger’. They are constantly thinking, investing, and pursuing ways to gain deeper insights into the subject . Regardless of where the information comes from, they remain curious and open to the possibility of learning something new each day.
At this stage, you are willing to learn from anywhere — a child, an animal, nature, or the universe itself- while keeping your senses open, hoping that a new ray of knowledge might emerge from anywhere. You remain humble and pay little attention to the labels or opinions others might have about you. The pursuit of “truth” becomes so profound that it dissolves your sense of self-identity.
If you reach this stage early in life, you will soon realize a single human life is not enough to know it all. You might experience moments of regret, wondering why you didn’t start earlier and lamenting the time already lost. However, this mental chatter quiets down over time as you gain knowledge. This new found understanding will humble you, making you realize that whatever you know now might represent just 1% — or even less — of what there is to know. The remaining 99% (or nearly 100%) still lies in the vast unknown.
There is no way to grasp it all in one lifetime. By surrendering to the vastness of knowledge, you become a humbler and better person in ways you couldn’t have imagined before. Depending on your level of inquiry, you might start seeking a “Guru” or a “set of Gurus” to guide you further. Your focus shifts from trying to know everything to unpacking as much as you can for those who will follow in your footsteps. Passing on this knowledge to the next generation becomes your priority, contributing to the continuity of humanity.
By the end of this stage, you have almost completed the cycle of realizing, “Oh, I don’t know enough about this subject.” However, this time, you feel humbled and overwhelmed by the depth of knowledge you have encountered.
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This is how I perceive the path of knowledge based on my current understanding; you are welcome to have your own perspective. For me, it is a never-ending circle of knowledge…
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I will take a moment here to reflect on my experiences in modern schooling and the corporate world. In both the education system and current corporate jobs, ‘individualism’ is often celebrated. However, I firmly believe that groundbreaking achievements can only come from teamwork and collaboration among multiple individuals. While these institutions do acknowledge the importance of collaboration — for instance, in my final semester of engineering, we were tasked with forming a group to work on a project together, or working in labs collaboratively provides another example — it still feels insufficient.
In corporate settings, you frequently hear about ‘team effort’ and people coming together to deliver key projects, often putting aside individual accomplishments for collective success. I have experienced and been part of such efforts from time to time as well.
However, the scale at which I witness collaboration is not enough — it needs to be more widespread and become an integral part of human society. Measuring and fostering teamwork at an individual level is undoubtedly challenging, but one possible solution I can think of is instilling a team spirit similar to that found in sports culture across all fields of life. This could encourage people to work with each other rather than against one another.
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