"The wise are not learned, the learned are not wise."—Lao Tze.

A wise person may not have much knowledge but a knowledgeable person is not wise. Wisdom is something that is intuitive—firsthand experience. Knowledge is based on words and descriptions. Knowledge can be acquired, shared, developed further, and transferred. Knowledge is not the same as wisdom. Wisdom requires insight and this "eureka!" cannot be taught by others. We can only help others on the road by explaining and sharing some knowledge about the wisdom.

We can convert wisdom into knowledge but this does not mean that the essence of the wisdom can be converted as well. It can only be described and illustrated with various symbols,
anecdotes, and metaphors. Describing and telling about the road is not the road itself.

Often we want to gain more knowledge. We feel that we are lacking something and by acquiring some more knowledge we can get rid of our shortcomings. This is the pattern our thinking and behavior take. We need to attend a seminar, listen to a guru, or read a book. How many times do we stop to think and consider what we are really lacking and what the purpose of this knowledge "filling" is before we actually do anything? Because if we want to get better at something, then we should also make sure that we really gain the wisdom at the end of the knowledge acquisition. Otherwise, the whole exercise would be time wasted from the wisdom point of view.

How do we distinguish whether we have actually learned anything by acquiring more knowledge? Because wisdom requires insight this means that it is also reflected in our
behavior and actions. Knowledge is converted to wisdom only if we are acting differently after getting the knowledge. This might sound more complicated than it really is. We can have
a complete theoretical knowledge of how to drive a car but this does not mean that we can drive a car. Knowing the function of all driving instruments and traffic rules does not make us excellent drivers. We have to turn the knowledge into behavioral patterns and actions that are observable. Knowledge is easy to get but wisdom is a rare art.

Wisdom requires active participation and action. Learning can be done passively. It is harder to create a theory than describe one that is already formulated. We have a habit of learning more knowledge. The underlying assumption is that this knowledge is converted into wisdom as well.
Unfortunately, the outcome is very often the opposite. The knowledge acquisition is our own illusion we so dutifully repeat time after time. We feel important and that we are doing something very meaningful and significant by learning something. For us, doing is often more important than the actual results. This is the unfortunate conclusion we must draw by observing the world around us. We love our illusion of knowledge and ignore the most important thing—the real deeds and outcomes.

(Taken from my book Fragments of Reality)

Can government increase social welfare and what are the implications of its actions to the society?

Download and read the essay (a pdf-file).

Pakistan's leading English language newspaper published a two-page interview on their Easter Sunday issue written by Ramla Akhtar (she's in Gaia too). Check out the article.

Here's how it starts:

One day, a man who signed as ‘/p’ left a comment on my blog at Gaia.com — a transformation community. I had shared my feeling of exhaustion; how I just wanted to not just give away, but also replenish my own energy. He pointed me to a book he’d written, called Fragments of Reality [FOR], which had a chapter on what we feel we ‘have to do’ as opposed to what we ‘can do.’ The difference is one between a burdensome compulsion, and an unconditional happiness. Acting on the chapter’s advice, I divided my life’s projects into ‘can do’ and ‘have to’ and cut off the latter. What a relief!

I made friends with that man, Peter Cajander. Then I read his book chapter to chapter. I marked it, pencilled my reflections in, and undertook its practices.

It’s an unassuming book. It didn’t try to direct me; yet it reinforced my life decisions from within. The book’s wisdom is based on Peter’s insights into the universal, which makes it accessible to anyone.

This is a conversation about the book, the writer’s process, and his insights. The questions are deliberate: they are asked from the level of ‘the initiate’. It is an early stage when one is seeking a pre-supposed gratification from wisdom, such as ‘How can it make me more money? Be more attractive? Seduce more partners?’ Some of the most profound advice is lost on ears because the seeker is only looking for pre-defined answers, thus focusing on what they want and missing what they are getting. Are we failing to get answers because our questions are flawed? This conversation speaks to those who may realise that it is indeed the question that needs re-framing.

Ramla Akhtar: Who is Peter Cajander?

Peter Cajander: Peter Cajander is your conceptual image based on your perception, information, and knowledge you have. It is your ‘mental’ impression that mostly reflects your own past experience and history. Each and everyone has a different ‘understanding’ of Peter Cajander. And none of them is truer than any other—they are just subjective interpretations. So, Peter Cajander is not what you think.

RA: What is reality?

PC: It is whatever you perceive it is. That is your reality, but don’t expect anybody else to underwrite you definition. There is no absolute or objective yardstick for reality. Or to say it differently in a word: energy.

RA: Reading through FOR, one feels as if the mind is more an impediment than the wonderful tool we thought it to be. What good is the mind after all?

PC: Not much. It’s a good servant but a poor master. Would you rather prefer to have peace of mind and silence? Or constant rambling almost 24/7 without a way to quiet it down? Won’t you rather use the mind only when you specifically need it? Mind is useful when you need to think something, i.e. find a logical solution or plan something. Otherwise it should be mute and not act like a radio gone bizarre by jumping from station to station non-stop. If you observe your own private radio it only plays something from the history channel (your past) or from the sci-fi channel (the future that has not happened). Mind is never here, right now, present.

Read the rest...

I found this article from my archives and it's related to my book, Fragments of Reality, or actually why I wrote it.

Everyday Life

Most of us are living in a middle of constant rush and hurry. Either we create it ourselves or it is imposed and assumed by the external world we are exposed to. It is amazing how much noise is around us. It starts from the early morning when you’re barely awake and continues till the final moments before going to bed. We are never really here in the moment, ever. Either we are accompanied by a radio and mp3-player or then we are among other people who keep us busy. That’s life–everyday life.

Still everything happens here and right now. We walk, talk, meet people, travel, work, eat, and so on. All these comprise of our life. But all this is just the external frame or the stage of the plays. It’s the outcome or the façade. What we are really experiencing and going through cannot be interpreted from the outset. A top athlete may look busy while he/she is running but how do we know? Within the situation might be entirely different. Actually when one seems to be occupied by the outset the reality within is often exactly the opposite. You cannot afford to think while being in the moment. Every golfer knows this: think about the swing and you have lost it before the club touches the ball.

When is the right time to be? Never is the usual answer—I don’t have the time. But this is part of the illusion like anything else. We are all the time and it is not possible to be but now. What we mean by not being here is to say that we scatter our perception of the world either to the future or to the past—in our mind. This creates the illusion of not being here while you still are physically here. This paradox was something I started to write about. When one begins to observe the world around us it is easy to realise that most of the time we are not living, at all. In another words we are not present.

This non-presence is easy to prove to yourself. Every time you don’t remember a particular circumstance or occurrence you were not there—you were wondering in your mind. Isn’t this a bit intriguing, we live but actually we do not? We look but we do not see. We are receptive to sounds but we do not hear. We sit in a meeting but we are not there— atfer we might not even remember being there at all!

No wonder people may start to feel frustrated or disappointed. It appears that they are not living at all. But if you begin to realise this you still don’t have the time to do something about it. We are busy, with our everyday life. It’s the work, the family, the hobbies and so on. A nice catch-22: constantly occupied to be without ever being. Where to start and how? Is it even possible without going to some isolated place and leave everything behind? Go somewhere in order to find time to simply be. Do you see it! I repeat: go somewhere in order to find the time to simply be. But we already are, when we only realise it.

This is the reason I wrote the book while living my everyday life. Being present is not about places it’s about a state of mind. Therefore any situation or place will do. Actually the busier and more active your life the better your chances to explore and realise the beingness in your very everyday living. Inner peace and harmony are not related to the external circumstances but internal tranquility and presence. Who needs to be calm and quiet in the woods?

Om, Meditations, Ascension, A Love Supreme... read the article: Circling Om: An Exploration of John Coltrane's Later Works by Simon Weil.