Illusion of Knowledge
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge.
Whenever we read about some self-improvement knowledge or receive a piece of advice, we often think, everyone knows that; I knew that. Then almost immediately, we switch off. This is dangerous.
When we say “we know”, most of the time, the knowledge exists only in our heads. But true knowledge doesn’t only exist in the head. It manifests itself through our decisions and actions. If you say you know how to code, but you can’t even write a simple program, then clearly you don’t actually know how to code. Similarly, if you say you know that is important to eat healthy but you aren’t actually eating healthy on a consistent basis, then you don’t actually know the importance of a healthy diet.
Truly knowing demands that we exhibit the result of that piece of knowledge on a consistent basis through our decisions and actions. This isn’t easy, especially when you just came across a new piece of knowledge. Good processes are required for us to change our old ways of thinking and to integrate new knowledge into our lives.
For example, recently I’ve been reading about the art of thoughtful disagreement. Be honest with yourself, how many times have you gotten into a heated argument and come out of it accepting that you are wrong? Probably not that many. Most of us have an ego that holds us back from accepting that our initial judgement is wrong. Listening with the intention of understanding the other person’s perspective rather than to defend our own opinion is not a skill that most of us are born with. We listen, because it’s the “right” thing to do, while we craft our response in our head, and as soon as the other person has finished their sentences, we deliver our well-refined response with an air of confidence. Probably because we don’t want to look stupid not having a reply at the ready. There is often zero consideration for whatever the other party just said.
Instead, what we should do is to suspend judgement and consider the other person’s perspective and question our own. Then, only should we craft our response. Sounds obvious doesn’t it? It sounded obvious to me too, until recently when I had a different opinion from a friend. He was speaking his view about how we can change our mental state through physiological conditioning(a topic for another day), and I found myself prepared with a response from the moment he opened his mouth and I was simply anticipating when he would stop so that I can make my point. But by practicing a little bit of mindfulness, I caught my thought there and then, and began to practice the art of thoughtful disagreement — by suspending my judgement and considering his views before crafting a new response, different from the one I had prepared in my head. Only then, could I say that perhaps I know a little more about the art of thoughtful disagreement. Now, I just need to be able to do it on a consistent basis.
I would like to propose a framework for overcoming the negative effects of the illusion of knowledge.
Step 1. Be mindful about the illusion of knowledge the next time you think you know or you were going to say “I know”
Step 2. Recall 3 times in your life where you have exhibited that knowledge through your decision or action
Step 3. Try to recall if you failed to exhibit that knowledge through your decision or action recently. If there isn’t, you can be more assured that you have a good grasp of the knowledge
If you can’t seem to make it through the 3 steps, you might want to start designing processes to integrate that piece of knowledge into your decisions/actions.
Let’s use the example of trying to change a bad habit, say biting of nails. Recognising and catching the problem when it surfaces is always the first step. Leverage on certain cues, such as an emotion or action that surfaces. A feeling of anxiety could be an emotional cue, or perhaps it’s the action of looking at your fingers.
Then what you want to do is to interrupt the action of biting your nails by replacing it with something else. It could be trying to draw perfect circles with your freehand (pretty therapeutic) or perhaps even keeping a small nail clipper with you all the time. Use your creativity to figure out how you can replace bad habits with not-so-bad ones. If you can’t think of any, comment below, we’ll help you think of one.
Knowledge can be especially dangerous when you think you know, but you don’t actually put that knowledge into practice. So what you need to do after reading this article is to go ahead and start designing processes to overcome the knowledge of illusion. Good luck! And share with us whatever interesting processes you might have come up with!
#DesignYourLife
