Sunday 2 February 2014

The challenging journey to overcome lack of knowledge

It should be called a crime when people liken the process of "gaining knowledge" to simply "solving a puzzle."

At least we all have to agree that it's an extremely patronising way of describing the process; mainly because the person in the position of power (in this case "knowledge"), the same person who's describing the process of "gaining knowledge," fails to address the characteristics of that "puzzle" honestly or correctly.

Knowledge has no shape

This is for people like me, who aspire to be good at what they do; those who have a dream to be true professional -no matter whether they put in enough effort or not- and they are very well aware of the fact that "getting better" is directly associated with gaining more knowledge.

This specifically holds for people who aspire to carry the title of "Oracle Scientist."

The fact of the matter is: knowledge is a puzzle; but with no shape or specific boundaries.

You keep discovering new pieces but you have no idea where -in the broad context of this shapeless puzzle- the pieces sit.

And in the case of Oracle, most of the time the pieces can sit right in the middle of the puzzle!

Embrace the pilgrimage!

I'd have to apologise for committing "the crime" too; because the process of gaining knowledge is no journey.

It's a pilgrimage.

You would know it's a pilgrimage when you overcome the initial fear that takes over you, when you realise that the "puzzle piece" you just found can ONLY fit in the middle, not directly connected to any other pieces you've previously found, but can be potentially connected to either of them indirectly!

Easy answers are rare, the path is long, and above all -as Connor McDonald rightfully quotes- "Learning is not a spectator sport!"

Find a guiding light!

Nobody has done it on his own, EVER.

I've been reminded of this, time and time again during the course of my life, and most lately by Kirby Ferguson.

You need to be surrounded by knowledgable people; the kind of people who don't give you the answer, but are patient enough with you so that you'd learn the path to acquire that answer.

There's no shortage of such people in the Oracle community, if you've got the will to find them.