Knowledge vs Experience vs Age

For a change, I’ll start this issue with an analogy. Think of a dish you’re fond of. You have two options — either you can eat it, or you can read about it. You can read its ingredients, learn its recipe, understand the blend of flavors; but you cannot eat it. Which one do you think would be more satisfactory?

Eating of course. Experiences are always more satisfactory. Reading about the flavors can never tell you what the dish tastes like. So there’s no point in gathering all that knowledge.

But let’s say you can do both. You can eat the dish and also read about it. Does that change anything? Yes! Reading about the dish now can teach you a lot.

Earlier, with raw experience, you would have simply enjoyed the dish. But now, you will be able to notice the tinge of bitterness it leaves on your palate. You will be able to acknowledge the umami brought by mushroom. You will be able to pair it with the right drink. So reading about the dish will enhance your experience.

Knowledge in itself can only take you so far. But same goes for experience. With raw experience, you can miss out on a lot of things. The details, and sometimes, the underlying meaning of the experience.

That’s why reading is important. It helps you make sense of the experience by putting words to it. Almost everything you read is a reflection of what you already know. It’s just that you couldn’t find the right words to express your thoughts.

So it’s never about knowledge or experience. But always knowledge and experience. Co-existent and interdependent, like yin and yang.

Now this is what I used to think until recently. That the ingredients of growth are knowledge paired with the right experiences. But there’s one more variable to this equation — age.

The last part, the “you are it” part, that is something that we have little to no control over. That is the part that requires time, years of time. Transforming as a person is not much different from the metamorphosis of a butterfly.

Your current self is a completely different person from the one who went to college as a 17 year old, or the one who wanted to be an airline pilot in school, or the one who had a lisp during his teens.

You have changed. You have grown. Not by reading a hundred books. Not by actively engaging in different experiences. But simply by living. By navigating your way around life as you could, figuring out things on the way, and letting go of what you couldn’t.

So gather all the knowledge in the world. Experience the world head on. But just know that you cannot speed the natural process of growth. Ultimately, it’s the number of years you spend on this planet that shape you as a person.

Good night!
Aachman