Today I had this comment on a post I placed for a yoga flow and MFR workshop. A random stranger or maybe a troll commented this.
“Why pay for this when I can Google all the info for free and experience it for free on my own?”
Well, no one will ever force anyone to attend or to pay for a workshop or a class. It is about free will and the time you have and the money you can invest. Some people like to be guided and like to feel a community around them and it is perfectly ok. Some like to study on their own. Some people have time to google and trust enough Google to think that they can accumulate the knowledge of a professional teacher. Don’t get me wrong…
It is perfectly possible but knowledge does not equal wisdom. One can only find all the poses on Google but years of practice and of teaching real classes would have brought you the wisdom to teach and to know for example the subtle effect of certain poses …and how some are really not suitable for certain people…
Wisdom does not equate to knowledge. You can get knowledge from Google but wisdom comes from living men and women
Knowledge= know + edge
The word “know” means knowing and edge means “end”, and to translate this directly it means knowing to the end. So, acquiring knowledge is just pure knowingness to the extreme end, for the sake of just knowing it, without wisdom nor understanding. Again, if the pursuit of knowledge is only motivated by knowing more, it clearly defeats its purpose, unless you are a living library and well in that case, accumulating knowledge of all sort is your purpose…
Knowledge does not equate to wisdom
Wisdom comes from the two words: wise and dome. Dome in this context means core. And wise means the ability to be able to discern with your truth. Wisdom comes from not just pure knowingness, but also experience, understanding, and realization.
Realization comes from the word “real” and “idealize”, and it means to be able to idealize what is real to you, and what is true to you. It means to put what you know and what you have learned into action, materialize it and from there, come up with your own realization! It is that “AHA” moment, that moment of epiphany where you make it your own, till then …
Knowledge is just knowledge….
Whatever you get from the external world is just a part of the truth of someone else. There is no right or wrong to it. It is just the truth of someone else. Would you just want to sit there and adopt the truth of what others have or would you want to explore what is truth to you? Everyone holds the truth.
As Rumi coined it so beautifully: The Truth was a mirror in the hands of God. It fell and broke into pieces. Everybody took a piece of it, and they looked at it and thought they had the truth”
But when Truth is just pure knowledge that one gain from someone else’s truth, then it becomes a fraction of the truth. And this is because you have not experienced it, you have not understood it, you have not come to a realization of it.
And these are just beings living in the truth of others who have yet to find their keys to self-empowerment. When you are actually able to formulate what your truth is, you will know what your truth really means because it just resonates and you will feel liberated instead of living behind other’s truth and wisdom.
What you find on google is knowledge but it is far totally different from what you get from a living experience. It goes way beyond theory. That’s the truth, plain. Yep, let’s suppose hugs are on sale and let us just compare a real hug with a Skype bear hug…I think most people would feel the difference…and I feel that’s a pretty good reason to pay a bit more and to go for the real hug …
Then it is of course also ok to DIY (and I am a pro DIY) but it does not always do the trick for me. Yes, I could be telling myself, I won’t be going to the doctor because I can surely find all the information online … Which is true but I am looking for more than a random knowledge of body organs or diseases … I am looking for wisdom and practice … Perhaps my vision is best encapsulated in this quote from T.s. Eliot, Nobel Prize -winner for literature, 1948
“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”
Then one may object that only some form of knowledge contains wisdom…For example, doctors must learn so many years so it is different and in this case, the DIY might not be the wisest option. But I would have to object that we must get out of the paradigm of despising some teachers, by seemingly assuming that it is easy to be a yoga teacher or an instructor … It is not.
A teacher is a teacher and teaching is a call and a sacred mission. All paths of education are valid and worth exploring…So maybe best is to pay if you want or to google and find alternative ways if you wish to. But really proselytism for one or another has no room here. No good no bad choices. Just choices. … And free will.
But to me, the real question is another. Is the truth found on Google the Real Truth? How can you possibly just trust that truth? Beware of false knowledge, it is worse than ignorance. You can find a lot of things on google but it is not easy to know if it is true or not. Please don’t become Google ayatollahs, swearing on the cloud and telling you everyone with the disdain of certitude: ” It is written or I found it on Google”
Discernment is key.
Lastly, I also feel and I am possibly advocating for this third way. Wisdom can be and should be accessible online and that there are ways, through google too to find wisdom. You might have to pay a bit for quality online courses but it is possible.
“There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world an that is an idea whose time has come ”
Victor Hugo, French poet, and writer
Do let me know your thoughts on this post. Best way to reach me is on IG @theinnerchilddoula.
Blessings of joy
N’Deye Fana Gueye