“We should approach life, not from the point of ‘What can I know?’ but ‘What can I do?’ The path of ‘What can I know?’ leads to worship of an authority, fear, and illusion; but in understanding ‘What can I do?’ there is self-reliance which alone brings forth wisdom.”
— J. Krishnamurti
What makes us want to appear like intellectuals? Often, it’s the desire for popularity, money, and status. The shortcut is to listen to an authority figure: intermediaries, priests, and influencers of various forms. We follow their instructions, reshare their content, and start relying on them to shape our beliefs.
“This path is the way of the intellect and any action that comes from the mere pursuit of knowledge must be imitative and not liberating,” Krishnamurti said. The resulting knowledge eventually gets tied to our identity; from a means to an end, it becomes an end in itself.
On the other hand, when you work with your hands, you discover the myriad layers of things that appear easy on paper. You realize the difference between expectation and reality and work to reduce the gap between them. This work leads to wisdom, because it teaches you how the world works.
Knowing that cows moo is information. Knowing the difference in their pitches—whether they’re hungry or afraid of a predator, whether they’ve lost a calf or they want to be milked—is knowledge. The former comes from reading a textbook; the latter comes from tending to cows.