"Enlightenment..."

Thor... placed the horn to his lips... . He drank with all his might and kept drinking as long as ever he was able; when he paused to look, he could see that the level had sunk a little, ... for the other end lay out in the ocean itself.

–-P.A. Munch, Norse Mythology
AMS Press, New York, 1970.

Have you ever thought of the amount of all human knowledge so far? Have you ever felt the urge to learn it all? How much can we learn? How much we already know? What is the percentage of all knowledge that we can get? For example we know (at least vaguely) that,

1. Everything around us is made of atoms.

2. There are some particles called electrons.

3. Opposite magnetic poles attract, and the like ones repel.

4. While inhaling atmospheric air, our lungs absorb oxygen.

5. Plant and trees are living beings.

6. Sun light, when passed through a prism, decomposes into seven colours.

7. Fourier transform of a signal represented in time gives its frequency components.

8. Music can be compressed to MP3 format so that the file size is reduced.

9. Every living being on earth has to die.

10. 1+1 = 2 and 1x1 = 1.

Can I ever complete this list? I wonder and wonder about the amount of knowledge we have.

Yet the beauty is this: it is more important to understand one thing rather than knowing it all. This is what my teacher told me today, "Sandeep, you may read a lot and know a lot. But it is when you re-derive your knowledge you really understand them. And enlightenment comes through understanding."

 A particular knowledge may be known to man for a long time. That does not mean that you have understood it. You understand is a different case. And when you understand it in your own way, you see the real beauty--this is the joy of learning.

--Sandeep Palakkal