Every person’s knowledge and all moments of sharing knowledge are potential opportunities to make the world a better place. There is no person’s knowledge and no time when knowledge sharing is more important than if the purpose is for social benefit. Many people believe that sharing knowledge in professional and academic ways are the only times when knowledge has value. This removes the majority of people from the responsibility for participating in sharing and receiving anyone’s knowledge to make the world a better place to live in. When sharing knowledge contributes to better understanding and improvement of this vast world we live in – no matter with whom or how it is shared – it is valuable.
It’s pretty amazing to think that my knowledge is just as valuable as many of the people who have spent years in academia, becoming “great and intelligent scholars” and being well known for their vast knowledge. Somehow we start to think that these people have all the knowledge that can save the world, and better opportunities to do so. But that’s simply not true. Every person’s knowledge is valuable if it is shared with the intention of contributing to making the world a better place. Yes, there are some people who accumulate vast amounts of knowledge and accomplish knowledge sharing on broader scales than others – but that doesn’t mean that this type of knowledge or knowledge sharing is better than others. To make the world a better place for everyone requires valuing everyone’s knowledge if it is shared with the intention of social benefit.
When we start to see our own knowledge and the potential of knowledge sharing to contribute to social benefit as somehow less than others, it opens the door to our not seeing ourselves as a desirable source of social benefit for others. Everyone, through life experiences, has acquired knowledge – it’s how you use that knowledge and how you share that knowledge that creates value. This includes how we give advice, share our thoughts and opinions, and remain open to the advice, thoughts and opinions of others. We don’t always have to agree, but sharing this type of knowledge can lead to better understanding for everyone. It’s how we resolve the disagreements through knowledge sharing that leads to new knowledge and understanding.
Often, we tend to adopt the knowledge of those who are “smarter” than us, not trusting ourselves to be a valid source of knowledge. When we begin to see our own knowledge as valuable if we share it with the intention for social benefit that is inclusive and respectful of all in our common humanity – our knowledge has value. When we begin to see this, we can begin to make the world a better place for everyone.
We tend to think that valuable knowledge only comes from academics or scientists, and that we ourselves don’t have valuable knowledge to share. By thinking this way, we are excusing ourselves from any responsibility for making the world better. Everyone’s knowledge and the opportunities to share this knowledge are unique opportunities for making the world better.
We live on a small planet in a vast universe. Through human history we have progressed forward in recognizing our common humanity – but we have also faltered in fighting each other. When we begin to see the value of each person’s knowledge and all moments of sharing knowledge as potential opportunities to make the world a better place, we continue to progress, not falter. We all have a place on this earth – we all have knowledge to share; but what is most important is how we use this knowledge that creates value.
Accept this reality about your own knowledge – that your knowledge has value if you use it for social benefit. You are a unique human being who has a place on this earth that no one else can fill. Acknowledge that you have knowledge to share as others do with you. This type of knowledge sharing will form the foundation of a happier, peaceful and satisfying humanity for everyone. Then, as you accept and respect your own knowledge, your own knowledge will be like a flame igniting the flame of others. Like lighting another person’s candle, your own knowledge is not diminished when it shared, but will shine outward and connect with all the knowledge of others to accept and respect all the knowledge of your fellow human beings.
Many social factors contribute to the marginalization of communities, families and individuals – such as poverty, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and so on…what are you doing to share knowledge to help eliminate these negative factors to make the world a better place?
Each day is an opportunity to share all the knowledge that you can to make the world a better place. You don’t need to over think it – or to push knowledge on other people by trying to share the most “intelligent” or “academic” parts of knowledge. Sharing life experiences as knowledge and being open to the life experiences of others as knowledge with the purpose of making the world a better place for everyone is all it takes. Don’t try to be an intellectual. It’s not so much the number of the things you know but the sharing of knowledge from life experiences to create better understanding and empathy with others that counts if it can contribute to social benefit. Knowledge sharing for this purpose makes a single life a success. With enough people sharing knowledge for this purpose, you have a successful community, country, continent – and planet.
I’ve always been the type of person who likes to see things as smaller pieces of a bigger picture. For any great accomplishment, many smaller pieces had to be finished in order to create the bigger goal. There’s a great saying that a long journey is made up of many footsteps. When I keep this in mind, I’m not too hard on myself for not knowing everything – rather, I’m happy to share the knowledge I have with those I meet - or listen to the knowledge that others have to share with me if I know it might make things better for life in general. Every knowledge connection we make in our lives can have an outward ripple effect to connect with all the knowledge shared on this planet. One never knows the knowledge shared with one person that can be combined with the knowledge of other people to create greater knowledge for everyone – all from the knowledge of one person. And that one person can always be you.
Everyone has life experiences. Everyone has knowledge to share. Do you choose to share it for benefit or harm?
Sometimes I have great knowledge connections with others when I am open to learn something new – or help someone else deal more effectively with a situation based on my own life experience. After all, one day each of us is going to die, and I’m pretty sure that when that happens, I’m not going to regret not having spent more time doing physical work over making knowledge connections. When that time comes, I’m going to be more grateful for having spent more time with loved ones, learning about the lives of others and the world around me, and for having done my best to share knowledge to make the world a better place from the place I live in this world. I’ll be glad for the time I’ve spent interacting and learning from other people, and not necessarily for the time I’ve spent getting things done. It’s not about the amount of knowledge – it’s about the knowledge connections.
Today, I want to write about knowledge and perspective – how we look at our own knowledge and the knowledge of others in the world around us. Putting things in perspective – particularly knowledge – is one of the most important elements that can help all of us live life more fully and make the world a better place for everyone. The value of knowledge on this planet is not necessarily determined by the way we acquire knowledge (by a higher education degree or by life experience), but by how we perceive knowledge. Far too often we value the former over the later.
Knowledge is acquired each day in many ways. Gaining knowledge happens all day, every day with all of our interactions with other people. It’s inevitable that someone, some time, is going to share knowledge that we disagree with or that perhaps hurts us in some way. Some knowledge claims are going to occur that make it seem like the world is never going to change for the better. But the important thing about that, of course, is how we perceive the diversity of knowledge in this world – how we value this diversity of knowledge to ultimately combine this knowledge to make the world a better place. It’s all about understanding knowledge and perspective.
Take for example a recent viral video of Jane Svoboda, a woman from Nebraska, USA who makes some rather strong claims against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
From my knowledge perspective I consider her claims to be extremely homophobic (as do many others). But from her knowledge perspective she stands by her convictions (while others laugh) to share her knowledge claims. Is she crazy (as many claim) or just in need of further knowledge? Again, it’s all about perspective. But do we just leave it there? No – because knowledge to make the world a better place requires action. Yet action that is respectful of others and open to dialogue with others. Creating valuable knowledge to make the world a better place is about combining the diversity of knowledge in this world through action. Knowledge without shared action is useless.
Although I strongly disagree with this woman’s homophobic knowledge claims (some people may claim this isn’t even knowledge), I was extremely impressed with the diplomatic and organized manner in which she was allowed to speak in such a procedural context. It’s always the first step in sharing knowledgeto make the world a better place – even though it’s knowledge that we disagree with or perhaps hurts us in some way.
But sharing knowledge is not just a one way street. I would hope that this woman would also be deeply open to listening to the knowledge of others. This is the next step in sharing knowledge to make the world a better place. Being open to dialogue and learning from the diversity of knowledge around us changes our knowledge for social benefit for everyone – and ultimately makes the world a better place for everyone. Knowledge has many perspectives. Combining these perspectives and knowledge is what matters.
So perhaps, instead of laughing at or deriding someone else’s knowledge claims (even though we strongly feel compelled to do so), if we saw this as an opportunity to begin to share knowledge – by combining our knowledge – to make the world a better place for all of us, we might begin to make a difference.
If we take the world and its diversity of knowledge without further action by sharing our knowledge, we will only see the hurt and hate in the world around us. If we keep in mind that there is a diversity of knowledge in the world waiting to be combined – improved for everyone through action – and that all knowledge is a matter of degree – of perspective – we can begin to make a difference.
In that perspective lies a realistic view of the world that can allow us to take this diversity of knowledge with a high degree of equanimity and pragmatism that tells us that yes, some knowledge claims seem so far-fetched and need to be adjusted – but life on this planet is about a diversity of knowledge. It’s how we share this diversity of knowledge with our actions – how we put this knowledge in perspective – that can make the world a better place.
