What is your investment? I’m talking about this now, so I’ll tell you—three things. Three things. Maybe I’ll add a few more. Three things.
One, “Know the difference between wisdom and knowledge.” Acquire the knowledge. But use that knowledge wisely: wisdom! Without that wisdom—ha-ha!
So, there is a lot of technical knowledge in this world—a lot of technical knowledge—but without that wisdom, it’s being used by people to kill each other. Use it wisely, and it could be there to reverse the effects of global warming. Use it wisely; it could be helping the polar bears, as they’re losing their housing.
The ills that human beings have done, the same technology can reverse it—if wisdom was there. But no wisdom is there and it is used in a stupid way.
So, knowledge is good, but it needs to be used wisely.
Two! Two: “Know yourself.” Who are you? What is your strength? You lie, of course, in this desert, devoid of much color, devoid of any sustainability for anything living—and yet that tiny little seed, if the rain comes—which it will—can transform even the desert. All its monotony, all its problems—gone. “Know thyself.”
Third! Third: Everybody is into social media and this and that; we want to communicate with other people. That’s not what you need. It’s fine; I’m not saying one way or the other way; it’s up to you. You want to use—it’s your time. You know, it’s your body—if you want to throw it in front of a car because you were doing this while you were crossing, walking across....
You see, technology, knowledge, but no wisdom. So they got the phone, but no wisdom. They got the technology, but no wisdom. As soon as the traffic comes to a stop, you know what people are doing? They’re not looking that the car is moving. And so people start honking.
So, the solution, in my opinion, is what you need to garner is empathy. Not sympathy; empathy. This will make you far more sociably acceptable. You want to become socially acceptable? Sympathy isn’t going to give it to you; empathy is.
If something can stop the wars, it is if people could just empathize. They don’t do that anymore. No empathy—to be able to place yourself in the other person’s shoes. That doesn’t mean you agree with them; it doesn’t mean you disagree with them—just to be able to see their viewpoint.
- Prem Rawat
