The Gift of Knowledge
I am a researcher, mentor and apprentice of dozen other people. My life has been pretty experimental professional as well as personal. Every time I stop and look back at it I think I have left so many things incomplete and wonder what I was doing at that time, why was doing the things that I did. Then I reached a conclusion that it was for knowledge and to fulfill my need for growth. My mom always said that the most invaluable gift you can give to anyone is the gift of knowledge. I love teaching and telling people about stuff and I also love learning.
Few months back I came across some start up called Knowledge Maps. I really liked the concept because finally there was something out there which was not nonsense. I could fulfill my need to learn and teach. This thing was one more step ahead of what I wanted. It allowed me to record what I was learning and how I was learning. Every time I have gone back to the research papers that I downloaded I have wondered why in the name of God did I download that, what was my thought process. This website has helped me recognize my need. Now whenever I go back to one of the knowledge maps I made I know what I was thinking from the description of the question I had in my mind while doing research and also the little summaries I wrote for every link that was helpful to me or the insights I added improved the quality of my writing. In India we have a culture of copy paste when it comes to research, whether it is graduate, post graduate or doctorate level. Knowledge Maps made me break that habit and build on something that I read or used for my work.
I only save ten most helpful links that solve my question. Believe me I find my answers generally in 5 to 6 links that I save. I realized the futility of saving all the research papers that probably said the same thing and my notes related to them were scattered all over the place: some in my computer, other in diary. Yes it was more convenient but then when I had to make sense of all the information again. I was a mess. Last year it had been almost a year since I touched my thesis. Then when I picked up the work again I couldn’t remember any of the reasons to justify my research. Now I am better at recording my learning. Also through my Knowledge Maps I can keep a track of my mind’s growth.
Another thing that happened was that most of the existing maps on Knowledge Maps were related to consumer psychology, growth hacking, coding, startups, entrepreneurship etc. This made me decide that I want to pollute knowledge maps with life sciences and humanities. Why should geeks have all the fun with knowledge? Just kidding. The point is I have love for teaching as much I have love for learning. I want the world to know why history is important, that how can mental health be improved, how one can achieve higher level of consciousness etc. This is one platform that lets me express myself objectively unlike Facebook and Twitter, where everything has become about being all over the place about everything, be it emotions, politics or love affairs.
I urge all the people fond of growth and finding meaning to life to learn and spread knowledge. Give somebody the gift of knowledge today.
Reference: Knowledge Maps
