Showing posts with label theory. Show all posts
Ideas, and knowledge.
in imagination, knowledge, theory on Sunday, July 27, 2008
Imagination is more important than knowledge. - Albert EinsteinWe are put into schools, whether they are schools for maths, language, martial art, dance, or any other skill, to learn those skills. Unfortunately, most students do not know how to be geniuses. They religiously follow teachings to arrive at measurable answers. The right numbers, the right words, the right moves, executed in order, in the right quantity, measured as right in as many ways as possible.
This is foolish. And not because the answers are wrong.
Take martial art. Many traditional schools of martial art show you "forms". Some masters tell you great secrets of martial art with which to destroy your enemies, strengthen your body against blades, find inner peace, among other incredible things. Not much of what they tell you is untrue.
But let's pretend for a moment that your martial arts master really is the greatest master in the world, even the universe! Let's pretend he can crush and create mountains...no, planets! With his will he can shape the future for entire civilisations as he pleases, his power his so great. Of course you would want to follow him and be able to do as he does. And suppose he does teach you everything he knows. And you copy it all, and you copy it perfectly. But it won't work for you. Because in your haste, you failed to notice that your master is actually a 100ft super alien. With tentacles.
You are not Einstein, Bruce Lee, Frank Sinatra, Churchill, Tiger Woods or any other legend who has gone before. You are you, and you have to find your own way. If you learn best from doing and gain little from cramming, a speed read course is not much good to you even if you speed read perfectly. If you're allergic to nuts, an amazing super diet that includes nuts is no good for you no matter how healthy it is.
And what does this have to do with what Einstein said?
What matters more than both the answer and the method, is the idea. Bruce Lee explained it well:
"Don't think, feel! It is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don't focus on the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory."Not only is arriving at the right answer not useful, but using the right method is also of no use without the intended idea. An idea, being a manifestation of some person's creativity, intuition, belief, imagination. The imaginative idea being more important than the knowledgeable answer which may carry it.
So what use is there for knowledge? This question is far too large for the scope of this post, but for now, I believe the biggest use of knowledge is to create new ideas, from which we create knowledge, and so forth. For instance, the knowledge of the existence of chocolate and peanut butter could lead to the idea of dessert no-one has tasted before. The knowledge that apples fall from trees could lead to the idea of gravitation. The knowledge that you've seen something huge in the water could lead to the idea of a sea beast to be popularised in fiction for centuries to come.
Acquire knowledge not just for the sake of its ideas, but also for your imagination - those ideas you are yet to have.
The difference between Striding and Sprinting.
A lot of people tell me that they spend a lot of their lives Sprinting. From my understanding, this implies that they are not Sprinters at all, but Striders. Allow me to go over the definitions of both in detail.
Striding - This implies a determined pace towards a goal. Energy expenditure while striding is relatively low, and of all Paces, has the best energy/distance travelled ratio.
Sprinting - In sight of a goal, at the expense of everything, we fearlessly (or fearfully) run towards a goal. We see nothing but the goal. Imagine a person standing atop a building looking at the top of another, shorter building. The shortest, most fearless/desperate route is just jump across the gap onto the shorter building. True sprinting requires complete fearlessness to let go of everything that holds us back and give absolutely everything to achieve an end. True sprinters are rare and command the highest respect from me.
I recently did something in the interest of becoming a true sprinter. I have one best friend, who I love dearly. But, many times, when I had set out to study for a day, I ran into her and got nothing done. I loved the time, as you should while Sitting/Strolling, but I made no progress along the paths I originally set out to tread. So, I decided I had to devote myself entirely to progress along my paths without her.
This did not go as planned. Long story short, in tears I fled home two days ago when she did not return my calls in response to (what I thought, and still think to be) a hurtful message she gave me. I called some of my other friends who were quick to drive to my house and rescue me from a night of moping solitude. This did not go as planned either, as almost immediately after we left my driveway, we got into a car accident. To add insult to injury, I found that the name of my friend's car insurance company sounds the same as my friend's name who hurt me in the first place. Their slogan being "Lucky you're with her-name!" But we're getting off topic.
If people say they Sprint all day...they're not quite right. You CAN'T sprint all day. A person who says so is just Striding very long and fast. Think about marathon runners. To them, the energy spent on each stride is virtually insignificant. Eventually it feels like hell, but it's still Striding. To a Sprinter, the more energy spent on each leg, so much the better. You can't sprint for more than a couple of minutes at absolute most physically. You can sprint a few minutes longer mentally. Perhaps 10 for a typical student. Some psychotic people may be able to sprint much longer. After this you're likely to either take a break or continue at a Strider's or Stroller's pace. If you watch yourself, or someone else who seems to be sprinting, keep watching. They shouldn't be able to keep that pace up.
Make sure you guys understand the difference. They will be important in my next post, coming shortly. See if you can think of one example of Striding, and one of Sprinting, before you read it.
