Why It's Ok Not to Know Everything

There is more information today than any human could ever learn in a hundred lifetimes. And yet, we are surprised that life continues to surprise us. We can't know everything, and that's actually a great thing. We can become highly skilled in a particular passion, work together to achieve big things, and advance our skills by  recognizing gaps in our knowledge.

In today's podcast episode, I talk about how we can know what we don't know. I talk about how to trust our gut when we don't know something, and I explore how to ask others for help. I discuss the difference between wisdom and knowledge, why the world needs wisdom, and how we can nurture and develop our capacity for wisdom. 

Please enjoy other episodes where I share meditation techniques, tips and spiritual lessons from around the world for peaceful and stress-free living. Remember to subscribe to stay up-to-date.

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Transcript

0:02  
Welcome to  Path to Peace with Todd Perelmuter. I'm your host, Todd Perelmuter our world is a projection of our collective consciousness. The more peace we bring into our lives, the more peace we bring into this world. So let the transformation begin. Today's topic is, it's okay not to know everything. And George Harrison has a great quote, he's saying, the more one travels, the less one really knows. And while I have learned a great deal, on my travels, and I've learned so much from so many different people learn so much about seeing how other cultures lived and learned so much about the human condition, by seeing all the different ways humans express themselves in their cultures. But the one thing I learned the most is that no matter where you are, where you live, whatever city, whatever little town whatever rural area you live in, we can make each place that we are home, we can make it beautiful. And we can create paradise, wherever we are. And so whether we are traveling, or learning a new skill or learning about a new subject, the more we dive in, if we don't have our innate abilities, of discernment, critical thinking, and wisdom and understanding, then we can get further and further away from the truth because we are making our accumulation of knowledge based on false assumptions. Much of the world, when we look around, is built on false assumptions and lacks wisdom and understanding. We see this in medicine the most because we have such highly specialized fields of medicine. We have the knee doctor, the ear, nose and throat doctor. But we are lacking medical professionals who have a wise understanding of how the human body works in its totality. And so we don't treat the system holistically. And where one doctor may see back problems, another doctor may see stress as the cause where the back doctor may treat the back with surgery, medication or chiropractic treatment. But treating just that one symptom can create new symptoms for that stress to be manifested as, but if we treat the stress, we get to the source. And we prevent new symptoms, new illness and new diseases from developing. And so in today's podcast episode, I'm going to talk a little bit about why it's actually a great thing. To not know everything, how to learn to trust yourself, how to ask for help, and not be afraid to ask questions or even look like an idiot. Because really, nobody can know everything. And we don't judge a baby as being an idiot because it doesn't know something. So why would we judge ourselves for not having learned something? When the amount of things to learn in this library of human knowledge is too great to learn in any way? one's lifetime. And so we'll talk about how to embrace that not knowing how to get comfortable with the unknown and how to recognize and accept our own blind spots and limitations. And finally, I'll talk about the difference between wisdom and knowledge, and why developing our wisdom is actually more important than accumulating knowledge. So first off, it's important to remember that Albert Einstein was a terrible student. Just because someone is a genius in one field, they can be a total idiot in another field. And they can either try to fly under the radar, never express curiosity in any subject outside of their expertise, never learn, never grow, and never become their greatest potential, which is a fully fledged, three dimensional person with varied interests. And so we can remember that we are in Einsteins company, that he was probably as dumb about biology, as we are about advanced mathematics. And so what holds us back from learning? It is, like the problem with so many things in a person's life. It's that darn pesky ego, that ego loves to feel right. And more importantly, it needs other people to think that the ego is right. The ego would rather people think that it knows the right answer, but know the wrong answer, then it would actually like to know the correct answer. But have people know that it didn't know the answer. It is a fear based machine. And it has created this fear, which is totally irrational, that we must always be right, we must always project that we know everything, because we feel that the slightest bit of weakness shown will be used against us and will be remembered forever, and will be thought of as a fool and a joke. But what are we really doing? We are projecting fear and insecurity. We are setting a terrible example to other people who should be asking for clarification, asking for help. And it is creating an atmosphere in either in the workplace or with the family or wherever this is taking place. That subtly suggest that everyone should be perfect that everyone should know everything. And that if you don't know something, you should suffer silently. It creates a world of more competition, and less collaboration, more secrets, and less support for each other. Not knowing something is not a sign of stupidity, or ignorance or laziness. It is a sign of courage and confidence. And that is perceived when someone stands up, unafraid to look like a fool. And say the question that probably three other people in a classroom or the office are thinking, and you will probably be their hero for asking the question that they were afraid to ask. And finally, we now live in a very strange time, whereas very recently, with the latest chat GPT release, we now live in a world where the human mind does not need to contain all of the information available in the world. Just like 10 years ago, we had calculators and the burden of complex mathematics was taken off of our shoulders, and schools adjusted from teaching how to do these complex algorithms in your head to how to do them

9:58  
with a computer similarly, we are going to be going through a transition where it's not how well can you read and understand this information, the new future will be who is the best at finding the best information. And in this way, the more we ask questions, the more we embrace, not knowing. And we embrace curiosity and open mindedness to find the answers, the better we get at that skill of seeking out information and finding it. Sometimes, there is no answer, though. And sometimes, whether we're trying to decide between two jobs to take, or whether we should move to another city, there's no Google search, there's no one we can ask to know what's going to happen in the future, what is going to get me to my wishes and my goals. And we need to remember here, two things. Number one, most people don't actually know what they want. A year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, people's wants change. And we think we're a great predictor of our future wants, but we are constantly learning. And this has been shown in scientific literature, that the reason people are always switching careers, and always making big life changes is because what they thought they wanted, wasn't actually what they wanted. And what they thought they didn't want, was actually the thing that later ended up bringing them the most fulfillment. And so by remembering that we are constantly changing as people, and what we want out of life is constantly changing. And so we can start to set aside this notion that there's this one perfect life, or that we need to make this one perfect decision, or that there's one outcome only that we'll be happy with, and all others will just make life unbearable. And so that's the first thing is we can all just relax because the fact of the matter is, life is for exploring, playing, not to be taken. So seriously, there is nothing that we can do, there is no mistake We can make that cannot be overcome. There is no setback, so severe that we cannot move forward. And as we let that pressure go, that we put on ourselves to be perfect all the time, we de stress, we start to see clear, we start to find any situation we are in to be more enjoyable, because we don't have that stress. And so even if we make the wrong choice, we can feel good about it. It was a learning opportunity. Now we know for sure that that's not for us. And we just move on and keep exploring and playing in this incredible world we live in. So how do we know when we make a big choice? If we're following our heart, our intentions and our instincts, or if we are conditioned by fear and other people's idea of the quote unquote perfect life. To do this, we have to quiet the mind. We must give ourselves the time and space to settle our mind and body. Only when we are completely still internally and physically. Can we see the world clearly? When we are agitated, we are racing through our mind and we are not seeing anything clearly. But in the quiet space. We can trace our thoughts back to what made us think those thoughts and when it is from fear. Whether it is fear Have making a choice to move somewhere or change something. Or if it is even fear of staying somewhere and you feel you just have to get out of this place you feel your only way to be happy as in some new place, then you may be making an irrational impulsive decision. But when you let go of that fear, you can start to think of your life in a bigger picture, not so much this paycheck or this person at work that drives you crazy. Because that might be waiting for you at the next job as well. There will always be people that have different values than us have different life experiences than us, and will clash with us. But when we sit down and eat anger or fear, and we just sink into the present moment, from a place of peace, we can start to see what we want in life. How we want to be spending our years and decades, whether we want to be surrounded by nature, and family, and friends, or a big city and strangers and exciting nightlife. But whatever choice we want to make, when we accept the fact that there's no right or wrong choice. When we accept fully the job we have the city we live in whatever choice we're trying to make, if we accept where we currently are, then we're not making a decision out of fear. We're making it out of joy, playfulness and exploration. And that is a great mindset to be in when we are looking at big life choices. So when these big decisions come up, allow yourself that quiet space to sit down, close your eyes, put one or both hands over your heart. And that will draw your attention to that region instead of your consciousness being in your head where it usually is. And this connects those neurons, those brain cells that we actually have in our heart, and which communicate with our brain and give us that feeling of intuition. And as our thoughts and awareness, start to expand and we become aware of those heart feelings, those intuitions and that inner guidance that we all have, over time, our thoughts become in union with those intentions and intuitions so that our thoughts, our feelings, and our words and actions are all aligned with our intentions and any inner conflict, inner turmoil, all disappear. And it is this union that creates a peaceful space within because there is no more battle raging on inside of us. This brings me to the third topic, which is asking for help. And when we are in a situation where maybe there's a teacher or a superior at work, or a mentor, it is far more impressive. To ask for clarification to reveal a week later, that you didn't ask for clarification and that you didn't understand something. And that is far more embarrassing than simply asking someone to further explain what they're talking about. Furthermore, any mentor or instructor

19:57  
who is any good We'll encourage the stupidest questions, because they understand that the only stupid question is one that was just asked a second ago and you weren't paying attention. Any good teacher, any wise person loves dialogue loves. Being able to clarify a position loves people's curiosity and engagement. So while we may think asking for help makes us look stupid, it is truly the wisest thing anyone can do. Which brings me to our final topic, wisdom versus knowledge. Knowledge is the accumulation of facts. It is something a computer can do. And there is more facts than any human can ever learn in their entire lifetime. Wisdom is the understanding of how to learn. And this is vital, because with wisdom, you can learn about anything. It is the learning how to learn and this skill, the more we develop that the greater potential we have, in understanding any topic, learning new skills, and most importantly, understanding how different fields and different categories of expertise relate to each other. And it is this holistic understanding that is really going to be the most essential skill for human beings in the future, as we get more and more specialized in knowledge. As computers take over more of this information processing, the more human beings will need to be adaptive, and mentally flexible. Ethics and morality will become more important as we deal with machines, and learn how to integrate those into human society in a way that is beneficial to humans. And we will have to generate a better understanding of the human mind and what it means to have a human life with dignity, and purpose. And wisdom. Unlike knowledge comes from a higher place than the thinking brain. The thinking brain is great at memorizing facts. But not everything can be put into words, and some things must be sensed and felt. And this is where a quiet mind can tap into a greater intelligence, then a mind that is constantly poring over facts and figures. The human mind needs that reflection time it needs that processing time. ideas and concepts need time to marinate and to be observed. This is why people who meditate have an easier time learning new information because they don't have a full brain constantly. And they create room for new information to come in and be understood not just to layer on more facts. In meditation, we practice quieting that mind so that we can observe how the human mind works. We can observe how this ego wants more facts and information in order to feel more powerful. And we can study these thoughts that pop into our head and we can look at what is going on subconsciously, for these thoughts to arise from. We can meditate on the purpose of our lives. What are the things we really love and want to be Doing where are we wasting our time and doing things that are not leading to greater happiness? And when mankind spend some time reflecting on just those questions, we may stop endlessly and mindlessly chasing after things we don't need. addictive substances that make us feel miserable, and we can get to work, creating a healthier, more love and planet. Peace and love. You've been listening to path to peace with Todd Perelmuter. Being here and putting in this important and noble work is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself and others. If you found this podcast even a little helpful, please make sure to leave a review so it can reach others who may be in need. And remember, the path to peace starts with a single step.