Wisdom vs knowledge (in the form of a platonic dialogue)

 

 

AIMARUS – Today we will talk about knowledge and wisdom.

CRITON -Oh! But they are not the same?

AIMARUS -No, dear Critón, far from each other, although close are the concepts that they have of them.

CRITON: Explain yourself better, because my understanding is eager to differentiate these two concepts that until now I thought were one.

AIMARUS: With pleasure we will find the answer to it, between the two, investigating step by step until solving this differentiation. Let’s start with the following question: Who is the one who knows?

CRITON: A wise man?

AIMARUS: Right. And who is he who knows?

CRITÓN: A connoisseur?

AIMARUS: It could be, but let’s call him a scholar. Scholar is one who knows many things, either one or several subjects. On the other hand, he is the one who knows something, whether it is much or little, but he knows.

CRITON: I see … But I still don’t quite understand what a difference there is between knowing and knowing.

AIMARUS: Do not hurry, excellent Critón, because the doubt that now lurks you is very common even among the very intelligent. Let’s keep investigating:

Knowledge comes from the mind, as does the understanding. We know what is in our mind in the form of memory, because if we do not remember it, even if we have learned it, we do not know it. The mind can collect a huge amount of data, we can know many things, have read hundreds of volumes of diverse topics and therefore believe that we know a lot. But, you will agree with me that the one who has read a lot cannot be considered wise, is it not?

CRITON: Of course not.

AIMARUS: All right. As an example, there was once a swimming scholar who “knew” everything about swimming. He had read hundreds of swimming books and had even written swimming books and given public talks about swimming. It happened that, one day, going from Izmir to Eritrea in a trireme, the poor scholar fell into the water in a sea stroke, and to everyone’s surprise, he died drowned because he could not swim. I knew everything about swimming yes, but I didn’t know how to swim. Are you getting me?

CRITON: Well, how curious! Yes, I think I’m catching you … Knowledge is only theoretical, but wisdom is experimental.

AIMARUS: That’s exactly. You can know many things, but it does not imply that you know them. To know them it is necessary to experience them, it is necessary to integrate them into one through experience. Knowledge is merely mental, wisdom instead becomes tangible, it becomes real. Knowledge comes from the mind, wisdom from the heart. It is no use knowing without knowing. How many useless knowledge do we populate our mind? How many things do we really know? Does fire burn, dear Criton?

CRITON: Hard question! Of course it burns, does everyone know that?

AIMARUS: If you believe? Have you ever burned? Have you checked in your own meats that fire burns?

CRITON: I understand where you’re going. Yes, once I was little I burned a hand with a burning blight.

AIMARUS: Then, friend, you can say that you know that fire burns. And now tell me, is it painful to lose a child?

CRITON: Surely it must be, and also very painful … I don’t think there is anything more painful in fact in this world than losing a child.

AIMARUS: And how do you know?

CRITON: Well … I guess, I understand that it must be despite the fact that fortunately I have never lost one.

AIMARUS: You said it, you don’t know, but since you are intelligent, by reflection you can deduce that it is painful. That is the difference between knowing and knowing. For this reason, wisdom is the very experience of things, and this is deposited in the heart by way of true knowledge, of living knowledge. What we have experienced becomes ours, it is no longer something that “I have heard”, that “has read” or “has told me”; It’s something that I know.

CRITON: I see…

AIMARUS: It is necessary to live experiences and integrate them so that they become the language of the heart: wisdom.

CRITON: I thought that the language of the heart was love.

AIMARUS: And what is love but neighbor-oriented wisdom? Can someone who is not wise love? How can one love what is not known? Moreover, we usually fear and hate what we don’t know. Only wisdom makes us understand and love others, because we see in them what we have lived in us. We see our own experience reflected in them. He loves a lot who knows a lot.

CRITON: This is not so clear.

AIMARUS: Wisdom gives understanding, which is the ability to put oneself in the place of the other and see your experience reflected in his, and as a result of that arises this desire in the chest to help make that person better and happier. We understand your pain because we have previously experienced a similar pain, at some point in our life, and an innate interest in helping you arises. Love is to wisdom, what perfume to the flower, when there is wisdom, love is its natural consequence, for this reason, since time immemorial love and wisdom are associated as indissoluble faces of the same coin.

CRITON: I am losing you Aimarus, your words begin to be unintelligible to me.

AIMARUS: Do not worry nothing happens. Do not believe anything, do not take anything for granted, do not give in to the assumption. Just live, live your life fully with sharp awareness. Look closely at everything that happens to you so that it can be integrated into your heart in the form of wisdom, and that with time and accumulated experiences, it can be said of you that you are a wise man.

CRITON: “I only know that I know nothing”. Is this the first step of wisdom as the wise Socrates said?

AIMARUS: Yes, being aware of your ignorance is a great step towards knowing. We really know very little compared to what we know. The other step is to remain very aware of everything that happens to us and try to learn from everything. The next thing is to give them a useful way out of this knowledge.

CRITON: Already posts, tell me: what is the most important knowledge of all?

AIMARUS: That which once known, makes it unnecessary to know anything else.

 

Fragment from the book El Uno sin segundo, by Aimar Rollan (Gopal).

 

 

 

 

 

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YAMA: The first limb of yoga

Yoga can be practiced by anyone regardless of age, sex, race, physical, psychological or social condition. As long as the interest in practicing it arises in oneself and is not something imposed.

Practicing Yoga is not an obligation, but an act of conscious will.

However, to start an authentic Yoga practice, a requirement is required: to have developed a certain natural moral.

According to Patanjali, the great synthesizer of Yoga techniques, the practice begins on the first ascension step on the 8-step ladder ( asthanga ), which is called Yama (natural moral), and ends in Samadhi (illumination).

Asthanga Yoga :

• Yama. 
• Niyama
• Asana
• Pranayama
• Pratiahara 
• Dharana
• Dhyana
• Samadhi

The Yama is made up of five points:

1. Ahimsa: Do not harm ourselves, or other living beings; unless strictly necessary.

2. Satya: Be truthful, authentic. Do not fool others, much less ourselves.

3. Asteya: Do not steal. Do not betray the trust placed in us by appropriating the alien.

4. Bramhacharya: Moderation. Do not abuse anything, always looking for the right middle ground; the equilibrium.

5. Aparigraha: Do not covet. Seek the simplicity of life and not pretend to rise above our peers.

With these ingredients in our luggage, we are more than ready to venture into the fascinating adventure of Yoga, which is none other than the adventure of Life.

 

 Aimar Rollan (Gopal)

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Niyama: the great unknown

Yoga has eight steps in its realization scale. In a previous post we talked about the first, about Yama , natural morality. Today we will talk about the second, the Niyama .

Most people know Yoga by its third step, the Asanas , or body exercises, by its room, Pranayama , breathing techniques; or at most for his seventh, Dhyana , or meditation. But as indicated in the title, Niyama is the great unknown, despite its great importance.

If the Yama are the observances towards others, the Niyama are the observances towards oneself. And from the point of view of Patanjali Maharishi, and from mine as well, one should not move on to the third step of Yoga without first practicing and integrating Niyama.

Although as things stand today, and with the superficiality that reigns on the planet, I would stay alone in Yoga class if I were so strict; since the vast majority of people are looking for a sport to stretch their backs.

Niyama points:

1.Soucha: Cleaning and purification of the physical body. Here comes personal hygiene, which many have neglected, and deep purification of the physical body, such as cleaning the nose, tongue, stomach and intestines. Yoga has techniques ( kriyas ) for such needs, and its practice contributes significantly to improve health, by eliminating both "external" dirt and internal. We will go deeper into another post on such issues.

2.Santosha: Contentment. This word is of the utmost importance to find happiness in this life. Contentment does not mean resignation, or conformism, it means being content with what one is and possesses in each moment, in this life. What happens to us at a given time is the best that could happen to our personal evolution at a given time; and what we have is what we need.So contentment brings us equanimity, peace and happiness. In the end it is a matter of intelligence: love what you do, love what you have, love the people with whom you share your life, love what happens to you in every moment. With this mental attitude, what can cloud our happiness?

3.Tapas: Means asceticism, austerity, or self-discipline. You don't have to be an ascetic, or make votes of any kind. It simply means that a practice must be sought and followed with discipline every day; that is part of the daily routine, such as eating, drinking or sleeping. Starting something is easy, be it an activity or a relationship. The really difficult thing is to keep it in time, to have enough perseverance to deepen it, without giving in to the first difficulties. In the end, constant practice makes one a teacher, whatever the discipline; but in this case, by faithfully following the practices of Yoga, one becomes a Master with capital letters, in the art of Life.

4.Swadhyaya: Spiritual or metaphysical study. Knowledge is power, and if we do not know our object of study, practices lack direction and depth. What is our object of study? We ourselves, the Being, the Atman, the ultimate meaning of existence. "Oh man, know yourself!" It was the inscription of the frontispiece of the sanctuary of Delphi. This has always been the maxim of Gnosis, of the knowledge of the Self. He who does not devote time to the study of such questions, is ignorant, and I do not say it in a derogatory tone, but with the meaning that ignorant is one who ignores something, and if in this case it is a relative knowledge of himself, his ignorance is even more devious.

5. Iswara Pranidhana : Surrender to the absolute, devotion to God. This is perhaps the most conflictive point, especially today in our western culture. It consists in rendering our actions to the divine that dwells in us, in having faith and devotion in God, or that principle that underlies all things, orders them and gives them meaning. In any case it is not a blind faith, but a certainty that arises with practice. A certainty that there is something beyond the finite matter, something that transcends, sustains and orders it. We are not alone in our journey, and although we are not aware of it, sooner or later, Iswara Pranidhana awakens in every sincere seeker.

These are the five principles of Niyama .
(A bit of irony)
- Do you practice Yoga?
- Yes, the practical in the sports center for three months; Look how I bend and how I make the pine. I think in three more months of practice I have already mastered it.
- Me too, I have been practicing it for a year, I think I will soon take a course to be a teacher.
- The other day I read a post about Niyama.
- Niyama? What is that?

 

Aimar Rollan (Gopal)

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