The Wayfarer's Blog

The human race is different from the rest of the animal kingdom in a number of ways, but one major difference that is critical for us to understand is that we are less dependent on instincts, and much more dependent on learned knowledge. Other than human beings, the members of the animal kingdom are largely born with a highly pre-programmed mind that governs behavior. Birds are born with knowledge of emigrational paths, wolves are born with an understanding of some hunting skills and pack mentality, and fish are born knowing how to swim. While animals do learn by experience, their young adapt to their needs rather quickly, mostly due to a heavy programming of instinctual behavior.

Human beings are born comparatively weak, requiring years of learning to become capable of defending themselves and coping with their reality. Because our lives being governed by civilization and society, we have a great deal more to learn. Yet, this focus on learned behavior is what also makes human beings more complex than the rest of the animal kingdom. If we were to compare ourselves to “man’s best friend,” dogs, we can see that the fast early learning curve of dogs flattens out pretty quickly, almost as if their is a ceiling to what they can learn. This does not mean that they do not learn from experiences, because they obviously do. It means that there is a limitation to the scope of their curiosity and drive for knowledge.

Probably the most important lesson that we can learn form this is that we are so dependnet on our learned knowledge. This being ture, we must be concerned about what knowledge we choose to accept. Don Miguel Ruiz calls this the knowledge that we make an “agreement” with. Dr. Quiz is a an author of books that are inspired by Toltec knowledge. I am also a well-read enthusiast of Toltec philosophy. I find his books to be very enlightening and well focused on the crux of our evolution as human beings. We are beings dependent upon knowledge and our choices of what knowledge we choose to “agree” with has a huge impact on the people that we become. Our early, formative years are critical to our development, but we cannot think of these years as the end of our development. Throughout the rest of our lives, we pursue knowledge whether we want to or not. If we actively pursue knowledge and engage in decisions about what we accept, then we are being more productive.

Most recently, I read the book The Voice of Knowledge: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace by Don Miguel Ruiz. The book begins with a connection to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He compares this to how knowledge that we learn in our lives can be a double-edged sword. We are born into a world where, due to our parents and surroundings, we are are dependent upon the knowledge that we gain from our earliest years. Now, this knowledge can be both good and bad, and usually is. No parent is perfect, and at the same time, the discipline that we need in life can be understood by us as children as something that implant larger fears of other things. In fact, there really is no possibility of a parent being perfect enough to overcome inflicting some childhood knowledge that can be an obstruction int he future. In my opinion, this is why we have the ability to continue growing throughout our lives, and should do so with an active intention of choosing what knowledge we are benefiting from and rejecting that knowledge that holds back our growth.

I have opened up this topic knowing that it will take an ongoing series of posts to keep adding to all the insights that this topic opens up. If anything, this initial post should at least put out the statements that knowledge is a something we engage in whether we think about it or not. The more active we are about engaging knowledge, the more power we have in exercising our choice about what things we choose to agree with as true knowledge and what things we choose not to accept in our own knowledge. This happens on a day-to-day basis, and it also includes going back and taking a look at all the knowledge we have acquired thus far in our lives. There are many things we may have accepted in the past that now, in our current stage of life, we no longer feel is beneficial knowledge for us. Now that I have opened dup this can of worms, I shall let this first post settle in your minds. Also, I do recommend the Don Miguel Ruiz book that I mentioned aboe. In a later post, I will discuss it in more detail and talk about some of my own opinions on it. Yet, since we all can choose what knowledge we accept or decline, I have no worries in recommending the book to anyone who is interested in understanding the principle of “Chosen Knowledge.