Knowledge Explosion!

I admit I am part of a counter-culture in our society.  With knowledge exploding every day, teachers, parents, businesses and even school publishing companies often get sucked into the philosophy that we just need more knowledge.  The problem is that most of us need to have skills first to make use of the knowledge.  Only then can knowledge be transformed into wise choices. In this present period in history, we can find out just about anything from the internet. How we use or eliminate what we learn will lead to success or failure; good or evil.

None of us can do everything we would like to do. Our purpose in life becomes more important with exploding knowledge and expectations.

Successful people concentrate on their present purpose in life. Their expressed purpose might change as time goes on, but specific, written goals to achieve seem to be a constant given in their life expressions.

I remember reading about Walter Russell, who was simultaneously a famous painter, sculptor, philosopher, writer and scientist. Five different areas of expertise! His personal plan to accomplish such extraordinary success in all these areas was to work with determined focus on one vocation for only 2 hours each day, thus working ten hours per day with focus, excitement, purpose and satisfaction. It wasn’t necessarily the knowledge he possessed in the beginning which created success, but the vision and imagination of what could be accomplished with skills developed through his focus on each discipline. One example is his sculpture of the “Four Freedoms” requested by President Franklin D. Roosevelt; the freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship; freedom from want; and freedom from fear.

Over the years, some of my employees have wanted me to expand to include, history, science, art and other types of tutoring. It could be done, of course, but I have personally selected the tools of reading/spelling/comprehension and math so necessary in order to excel in the other areas of instruction. Encouraging self-confidence and eliminating learning challenges is the goal. We get results when we remain focused on our purpose!

Knowledge is good, but the use of it is more important. Hitler had knowledge, but his wisdom on how to use that knowledge was warped and evil. Don’t be intimidated by the knowledge explosion. Live with a positive purpose in life with your knowledge focused for good!

The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination. Albert Einstein