“Intelligence is like a flashlight. If you flash it, it’ll just show you what’s in front. Knowledge is like a projector; if you switch it on, it projects its own story. Now, if you came with a flashlight and you flash it on these paintings here, you will see the paintings just the way they are. If you came with the projector, which also has light in it, and you turned it on; you don’t see the paintings. You will see something else, maybe Jackie Chan fighting.
That’s the difference between knowledge and intelligence.
Knowledge is limited, it can’t see beyond its limited perspective, it assumes finality in all things, often arrogance, closes the mind to the receiver, shuts off aliveness of the present moment. It filters all things to what it can understand, from what it can grab, from the past, it compares and relate all things to a time that no longer exist, to memories that are finite. On the other hand, intelligence is always rooted into now, the moment that is, always open to new possibilities. Intelligence is of the maker not of the made. It is alive, present, reflects the natural world not one that is in your mind, looking with a fresh perspective, able to learn and readjust. Knowledge is stoic, stiff, always rooted in a time that is no longer, always occurring right in front of it.
Let flashlights be what we are, the light of the world. Allow your mind to be renewed.”
Jaggi Vasudev — Indian spiritual leader and yogi
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
This quote emphasizes the difference between knowledge and intelligence, two concepts that are hard to disentangle. It praises intelligences capacity to detach itself from preconceived notions that the author imputes to knowledge. Obviously, the ability to project prior knowledge on a given problem can be useful to help contextualize the new data being acquired. However the capability to collect and process data without bias from our knowledge is more important than ever, in a world where the abundance of information makes us cling to past knowledge in order to avoid change. In business, this is done by implementing robust Knowledge Management strategies.
With this in mind, the flashlight of intelligence should bring us to opportunities rather than project knowledge.
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