“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
John 15:4 NIV
How many times have we deceived ourselves that we can do it all on our own? How many times have we watched the world and thought we can actually make it without God? It’s a delusion.
We have been planted with Christ. Therefore, the only way we can bear fruit is in Christ. We cannot bear fruit unless we remain in Christ. To remain means to continually abide. He is our resting place, our secret place, our safe refuge.
The world may produce fruit but take your time and think about it. Is it a fruit that lasts? On the outward, they may look satisfied and sustained and successful but trust me, you do not want to see what’s on the inside.
Because we see only their outside, we compare our insides to their outside and think God doesn’t need to be in the equation. God IS the equation. Without Him, there is no equation. Until we realize that, we’ll never be fruitful in any area of our lives.
You’re standing at a KFC counter for the 1st time staring at all the available meals. Your friend tells you to pick any food of your choice. Now you are excited and the succulent adverts for the food raise your expectations. Yet, you stand there for the next 2 minutes thinking about what you want. The waitress is growing impatient. You feel like you’re delaying so instead of making your best decision, you go with it and just buy something. Now you’re not so happy because you feel you didn’t have enough time to thoroughly go through all the available options.
You’re thinking about what you could have rather bought although your food is ready. You’re already regretting your choice so the taste wasn’t so nice after all. You think the other one you didn’t get would have been better. This same scenario happens to you the next time and the next time after that. Now you think you’re just not good at making spontaneous decisions.
Let’s look at it another way. You’re a girl and you’ve grown into a beautiful woman every guy will basically dream of. As a girl, it’s good to think of yourself as a hot cake. About 3 guys at a time are showing interest in you, not counting the side ones from guys you don’t even know. For a girl, 3 options is a lot, trust me. You don’t know who to choose, so you choose the tallest guy.
After some months and a few misunderstandings here and there, you are now thinking of the opportunity cost. You should have rather chosen the guy with blue eyes. This tall guy is really annoying. You regret your choice and you eventually break up. You find yourself in the same dilemma next year and you make a sub-optimal choice again without thinking it through. It happens the 3rd time and now you think you have a bad taste in men.
This is why people love living in a dualistic reality, where they reduce every option to just two. It’s either right or wrong. It’s either left or right. It’s either black or white. It’s either positive or negative. It’s either good or bad. Life is, however, more complicated than that. Sometimes our options are not ‘good and bad’ or ‘right or wrong’. It’s good vs better or somehow good vs slightly good vs not so good vs okay vs could be better. At every point in your life, you have a million options to take. However, we make choices based on the number of options available to us at the moment.
The options may not even be related. Sometimes we think about what we could be doing when we are engaging ourselves in one thing. This raises our expectations for what we think we could be doing and reduces our satisfaction with what we are actually doing. Such a Paradox.
I went to the pharmacy recently to buy paracetamol and the seller asked me, “Which one?”. Then she goes on to mention about 5 different ones. “Ei paracetamol too…”, I exclaimed! So I bought the less expensive one. Inasmuch as it’s good to provide options most times, too many choices for simple decisions can lead to choice paralysis.
Imagine choosing what to do with your body nutrients; grow your hair, grow your brain mass, grow your hips? I know some girls would love that idea and would choose to grow their ass with all their body nutrients. Then their body would be like a raccoon after two weeks lol. Thus, our brain makes automated decisions for our physiology involuntarily of our conscience so we could focus on the most important; the input. We choose to feed our body whatever we want and our body takes it from there. Garbage in, garbage out. This burdens us with only choices of input rather than choices of input, processing and output.
The more freedom you have, the more choices you can make, right? More choices = more freedom = more happiness. Well, it is so untrue. Life is so funny and paradoxical. Actually, the more choices you have, the less happy you become due to choice overload. If a company wanted to employ you and showed you 100 different employee packages to choose from, you would either lose your mind and be indecisive or make a sub-optimal choice. The more choices you have, the more unlikely you are to choose.
Less will always be more. The lesser options you have, the more you can make the most out of it.
It’s so ironic when people tell you not to listen to the opinions of people. It’s funny because taking their advice means not listening to them as well.
We listen to people’s opinions, whether we realize it or not. In fact, most of our opinions on many issues are a regurgitation of people’s opinions. Confirmation bias makes it worse; we are more likely to only listen to opinions that are similar to ours. Maturity is choosing the things that matter to you the most, and equally important, choosing whose opinion should matter in what situation.
Though we shouldn’t listen to other people all the time, we are lying to ourselves if we say we don’t listen at all. If people’s opinions didn’t matter, you wouldn’t be on Twitter, reading reviews, reading books and watching discussions on television. More often than not, these are opinions from “strangers” but it matters to us anyways.
People’s opinions do matter, but it depends on the person and on the matter. When it comes to personal matters, listening to people outside your circle or the circle of focus is dangerous. They only see a fraction of the real issue and don’t know the inner workings. The behind-the-scenes is not known to them so their opinions may be true but not entirely.
People usually want freedom of speech to compensate the freedom of thought they barely explored. Being quick to opine only exposes their ignorance and lack of patience to understand what’s really the matter. So be mindful of who you’re listening to. Most of their advices are a reflection of what’s happening in their lives, not yours.
If you think you don’t listen to what people say, you’re lying to yourself and you wouldn’t be reading this right now. Believing that lie brings a lot of confusion. People who think they don’t care what other people think are more likely not to listen to other people in situations when they should.
At the end of the day, the opinions that will matter the most to us are from the people that matter the most to us. Wisdom is listening to others when you should, and not listening to them when you shouldn’t, and intuition is knowing when and when not to.
If I had to choose between being real and being perfect, I’d choose being real.
The more you try to be perfect, the more you lose yourself. In our unending chase after perfection, we lose our identity and take on the identity of how things ought to be. How things ought to be is not fully in our control, and perfection is not meant to be chased. The more you run towards it, the farther it runs from you. Trying to make everything perfect will only make things imperfect.
Can you simply be yourself? That’s perfect! It’s effortless, unpretentious and un-exasperating. That’s it. The more you “be” yourself, the more “perfect” you become. Maybe that’s what perfection really stands for; true authenticity. Fully being yourself without any impurities of external influences. Authenticity is the ultimate perfection.
Isn’t it amazing that for all people who have ever lived, are alive and will ever live, there is only one YOU? There is nobody like you and there’ll never be anyone like you. That’s true authenticity; a kind of perfection that can only be divinely orchestrated.
Yes, you may have the same nose as your parents, the same handwriting as a stranger or even the same interest as a friend, but you’re unique and there’s none like you. Yes, you have flaws and shortcomings and have zero talent in certain areas, yet no one comes close to being you.
They can be like you. You can be like them, but your idiosyncrasy is one in 7 billion. None can be compared to you. So why do we try so hard to live like someone else? Let no one pressurize and intimidate you into being someone you’re not. Love who you are just the way you are.
Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Alex who lived in a small village in the mountains. Alex was very curious and loved to explore the world around him. One day, he decided to climb up to the top of the highest mountain in the village to see what was on the other side. As he climbed, he met an old wise man who lived in a cave halfway up the mountain. The old man had spent his entire life studying and acquiring knowledge, and he had become a respected teacher in the village. Alex was fascinated by the old man’s wisdom and asked him if he could teach him everything he knew.
The old man smiled and said, “Knowledge is not something that can be taught, but it is something that must be discovered.” He then handed Alex a small book and told him, “This book contains all the knowledge in the world, but it is up to you to discover its secrets.” Alex was thrilled to receive the book and began to read it eagerly. He spent many days and nights pouring over its pages, learning about science, history, art, and philosophy. But as he read, he realized that the more he learned, the more he realized how much he didn’t know.
Eventually, Alex grew discouraged and went back to the old man’s cave. “I’ve read the whole book,” he said, “but I still feel like I know nothing.” The old man smiled and said, “That is the first step to true knowledge. The more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. But don’t be discouraged. Keep seeking knowledge, and one day, you will discover the answers you seek.” Alex took the old man’s advice to heart and continued to explore the world around him, always seeking new knowledge and wisdom. And in time, he became a wise and respected teacher himself, passing on the knowledge he had discovered to the next generation.
True Meaning of Knowledge
The word “knowledge” comes from the Middle English word “knowleche,” which was derived ment of a superior; learning, instruction; doctrine.” The word “cnawlæc” was formed from the root words “cnawan,” which meant “to know,” and “læc,” which meant “gift or offering.” The root word “cnawan” can also be traced back to the Proto-Germanic word “knewan,” which meant “to perceive, know.” This word, in turn, was derived from the Proto-Indo-European word “gno-” or “gne-,” which meant “to know” or “to recognize.”
The meaning of the word “knowledge” has evolved over time to refer to the understanding or awareness of facts, information, or skills acquired through education, experience, or study. Today, it is commonly defined as the familiarity or acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, acquired through study, investigation, observation, or experience but that is so wrong. The overload of information has made us underestimate the importance of knowledge. Information is taught. Knowledge is discovered.
Taken from the word origin alone, to gain knowledge, one must have the acknowledgement of a superior. Anyone who does not recognize any authority over their lives has rejected knowledge. “Whoever comes to God must believe that He is…”. Acknowledgement! What does a superior do? A superior gives instructions. Instruction! In-struction. In-structure. A structure is formed within us when keep heeding the Holy Spirit, our Teacher.
“Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” generally refers to a deep and personal understanding of who Jesus is, what he taught, and what his life and death mean for humanity. It involves more than just a theoretical or intellectual understanding of Jesus; rather, it is knowledge that comes from a personal relationship with him and an experience of his love and grace.
In the Bible, the Apostle Paul frequently speaks of the importance of this knowledge, which he describes as a transformative and life-changing experience. For example, in Philippians 3:8-10, he writes: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death.”
Overall, “knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” is not just about acquiring information, but about having a deep and personal relationship with him that transforms our lives and enables us to experience his love, grace, and power.
None of us wants to be in calm waters all our lives. Where there is no challenge, there is boredom. Passion dies whenever there’s nothing new to try.
There ought to be something that looks bigger than us. Something that alters our mindset at the end of the journey. Something that challenges us, not just to do better, but BE better; to live to our utmost potential. Something experiential that challenges our perspective to something we’ve never seen before but was always there. Something that is worth living for. Something that is worth dying for.
There’s gotta be something.
But why does it have to be this hard? It’s like I’m always at my wit’s end. It’s like my bones are crushing, my teeth gnashing. It’s like the only reason why I have no reason to live is the only reason why I am living.
Left to me alone, I would give up but I just can’t give up now. There’s something that keeps leading me on, telling me there’s gotta be something to all of this. Giving up hurts more, and failure is better than regret. It will definitely be worth the risk. What I become in the process is far greater than what I have as the product.
Life is just like giving birth. After so much pain we thought we could never bear, what we are expecting finally becomes a reality, but in a way, we certainly did not expect. That is when we realise that the more the sweat, the greater the “sweet”.
The joy at the end is far more unbearable than the pain we went through. The pain now just becomes a passed memory, but the joy becomes a present reality.
Is it possible to live in a reality that is out of place with our present circumstance? Are we supposed to allow ourselves to go through the incumbent emotions triggered by our brain due to the nature of present circumstances or we are supposed to “fake” a positive reality till we “make it”?
The brain releases negative emotions a few moments after a negative experience. Any further negative emotion from then on is self-inflicted. Self-inflicted because we continue to dwell on the negative image our senses fed our minds over and over, thereby releasing the negative emotions over and over.
Emotions are Symptoms
Pain is a symptom. Anxiety is a symptom. Depression is a symptom. Whatever we feel are symptoms, insignia. It’s not the actual thing. It’s a reaction to the actual thing. The chemical reactions in our system are the same for everyone but how the reaction manifests differ from one person to another. That’s why people cry when they are sad, hurt, angry or even happy. Same reaction, different circumstances. The body will release different tears in these different circumstances but that’s not the point.
The goal is not to stop yourself from feeling any negative emotions ever. That’s insane. In fact, it has been scientifically proven that it’s necessary to feel both positive and negative emotions occasionally instead of feeling either of them all the time. What we can do is to channel that negative emotion into positive action. That’s the real deal. Elizabeth Scott, MS said it this way, “Managing negative emotions is more about embracing the fact that we are feeling them, determining why we are feeling this way, and allowing ourselves to receive the messages that they are sending us before we release them and move forward”.
Stopping yourself from feeling hurt, disappointed, grieved or simply down is not emotional intelligence. It is avoidance coping. It can heavily backfire if we don’t tackle it. It’s like hunger. Hunger is a symptom, a sign that you need to feed your body with food. Avoiding the feeling of hunger and doing nothing about it creates more problems. If you kill the symptom, the underlying problem still persists. True emotional maturity is allowing yourself to feel the feels but not letting it change your mindset and stance into a negative reality.
Sometimes, all we are looking for in a relationship is reciprocity. No wonder we feel it’s one-sided when it comes to some issues. Turns out, we are not the same and there’s no need to hold your partner to your standards. As a guy, here are 3 double standards you should be mindful of in order to keep your sanity. Enjoy!
1. Mood
Mood is like the holy grail of being feminine. Once you are able to crack the code, you will be crowned a god. That’s because females themselves don’t understand the complexity of their own mood. There are too many factors; both internal and external stimuli. But that’s not the point; girls don’t give a damn about the mood of guys. Any moody guy is shamed as feminine. She could get a slight mood change from a “loose” word you said. However, don’t forget this for the rest of your life – Don’t you DARE do to her what she does unto you. As a guy, you will be trying to argue your side of the story from a logical perspective but she doesn’t care. It’s the emotional predicament that she is concerned about.
She will seldom apologize for what she says but she expects you to, at least, feel remorseful for saying something random that changed her mood. When a girl is moody, as a guy you would notice. Drop everything and try to lighten her mood. Otherwise, you are probably going to say or do something dumb that will cause her to blame you for all her afflictions lol.
2. Listen
“We need to talk”, she says. So scary, huh? She’s about to let you guys have a talk on all the petty annoying things she has been having to deal with from you. However, you can never pull that off as a guy. You can’t have “the talk”. At least, not as often as she has hers. She is going to complain about your attitude and how you treat her occasionally but once you begin to complain too much about how she treats you, her mood will change again and she will turn it back on you. Now, you have to apologize for making her mad
They say men are the leaders of the home but every man knows it’s the woman. Every decision made is based on her preferences, not you as the guy. I’m not lying. Think of any scenario. If she doesn’t like it, we are not having it. If she’s not in the mood, we are not going. If you keep disobeying, her emotional connection towards you will keep dying. She would always want you to take her advice (which is purely based on how she feels by the way) but she will choose to take or neglect your advice based on her mood.
3. Finance
Due to societal norms, a problem has arisen. The average lady today doesn’t want to be subjected to how society treated women of old; housewife, second-class citizen, belongs to the kitchen. That notwithstanding, they still want enjoy the privileges of the women of old. So what do we find; his money is our money and her money is her money. Know this and know peace. There are a few percentage of women out there who won’t make this a big deal. It all depends on how she was brought up.
However, you dare not take advantage of those few rare women. Yeah, she has money but who doesn’t like being taken care of. As a man, it adds to your ego if you are able to take care of your woman. It’s an inherent almost-instinctive nature. The problem lies with the rest of the entitled bitches who think you are supposed to spend your money on her and never vice versa because she’s the one with the vagina. Let me end here and not eat into next week’s post.
I know there are many double standards women pull on men. Obviously, there are also several double standards society holds women accountable for. I wish I had more time to elaborate. I want to hear from you by the way. As a guy, what are other double standards you can think of? As a girl, do you agree to the aforementioned double standards? Please comment below!
Life without females would be a pain in the ass, literally! Though they make situations a bit more difficult than they’re supposed to be, they make life much more interesting than it would have been. They add a little more extra everywhere. They may be a little more extreme but definitely quite distinct and super amazing. To be very honest, understanding them is a hoax but hey, at least I made an effort – like the gazillion number of men before me who successfully failed to crack the code.
Women love attention
We each have the desire to be loved and accepted. Abraham Maslow recognized this in his Pyramid of needs and identified it as a social need. No matter who you are, you belong to something. Women do have a strong sense of belonging. Though not every lady wants to be in the spotlight, they would love to have your attention provided you treat them right. The more you make them feel special – like they are the centre of the universe, like there is no other person but them – the more they’d love your company.
Women care 1000% about diction
They say, “Men are moved by what they see, but women are moved by what they hear.” There is an iota of truth in that. No matter how a lady likes you, she’d still want you to initiate; you’d still have to “sweet talk” with her; you’d still have to treat her right. Whether the lady will become offended or feel the love, it all depends on your choice of words. Once you make the wrong choice of word in a conversation, she’d expect that you apologize. She may even understand what you’re trying to say, but you’d still have to say it.
Women love to be right
Women are very intuitive. They listen to their intuition more than men do. Sometimes they just know that something is wrong beyond all reasonable doubt. Women may not always be right, but they are never wrong. She has all the right in the world to tell you that they tried to tell you yet you wouldn’t listen, but don’t dare try to tell her that. A wise man once said, “As a man, when you’re wrong, apologize; when you’re right, shut up.” A man who loves to always be right is seen by women as proud and egotistic. A woman who loves to be always right is simply being a woman.
Women are empathic
No matter how hard a woman becomes, she still has a soft spot. Of course, at the beginning she may a very nut to crack but spending time with her alone softens her heart towards you. The average lady is very emotional. Funny enough, if a guy had the same amount of mood swings a lady had in a single day, he’d be seen as psychopathic and may be on medication for having split personality disorders. When offended, she doesn’t get pissed, she gets mad. The psychophysiology of males and females are distinct. Women have a different kind of logic. When you talk to her, she listens to what is not being said. That’s why good mothers are good listeners.
Women know what they DON’T want but may not know what they want
There is nothing that two people in love cannot do except – of course – deciding where to eat. In a relationship, barely would a woman make the vital decisions.
She’d tell you what to do, but if it fails she’d blame you because you took the decision. Women seldom know what they want yet they may complain bitterly about what they have.
Whether it’s a house design or sex life, they’d express how they dislike the current state and then expect you to know what to do. They have a strong desire for what they want. When they see what they want, they’d know. Confused? Don’t worry. Women themselves know it’s confusing because they don’t even understand themselves. How can you know what you don’t want and still not know what you really want?
What exactly do they want? That is a puzzle that the guy has to solve.
Ladies, is this true? Guys, do you agree with me? Let’s see your comments. Will deffo have to continue with this. Hope you enjoyed it! Don’t forget to like and share. By the way, this is all meant to be fun. Please don’t be mad at me, O woman in thine period. I know all these doesn’t necessarily apply to all women, of course! Please don’t insult me. Thanks 😂
Purpose is a simple thing. It’s not any super-spiritual phenomenon that quakes the earth when you tell people. It mostly can be summarised into a simple sentence or even simple words. It’s not far-fetched, hidden in some foreign land and needs years to discover. It’s within you, gradually showing its head in the outcome of your simple decisions.
The first step to knowing your purpose is to start from the general. Are you female? Then it’s your purpose to reproduce and incubate life. You may not give birth and still fulfil this purpose in another way. Are you the firstborn? Then it’s your purpose to take care of your siblings and set the pace for them. It doesn’t mean you have to be the greatest but you definitely need to be a leader. Your purpose is tied to your identity. Know God’s Will for your life according to God’s Word. Are you the light of the world? God desires that you let your light shine to bring glory to Him. If you know who you are in Christ and you let the Word of God come alive in you, you are fulfilling your purpose.
Purpose is not something you fulfil at the peak of your life when your dreams come true. Jesus fulfilled His purpose as a human from the very day He was born till He died. In fact, His utterances, actions, daily decisions, walking paths; everything He did confirm the Word of the Lord spoken about Him in the Old Testament. It’s a daily fulfilment thing that adds up to the ultimate fulfilment. The school you attended was all in God’s plan for you. It determined the kind of people God directed to come into your life. Yet you didn’t overthink it, did you? Of course. Same with every purpose God has for your life. Don’t overthink it.
When it comes to Pursuit, the key is to not pursue many things. If you pursue everything, you pursue nothing. Pursue God firstly and mostly. No pursuit should exceed your pursuit of God, not even the things of God. Some men and women of God have pursued ministry more than God, thinking pursuing ministry meant pursuing God. You can pursue any other thing. Just make sure it’s few and that God is the most pursued. Lastly, pursue with passion. What is a pursuit without passion?
Passion is fuel, not a hobby. Once you realize it’s fuel, you would use it to pursue your goals effortlessly. Passion is a fire that needs to be rekindled time and again. Note: Once you disconnect yourself from purpose, the passion within you begins to die down. Once you pursue something else more than God, you lose your passion for God. To be passionate about the things that do matter to you, remember and reconnect yourself with your purpose. It’s not about what you are passionate about; it’s about what you pour your passion into. If you strike two rocks hard enough, you might spark a fire.
This is my adage for you: Pursue your purpose with passion.
God creates man in his image and likeness. Man has no sin in him and no knowledge of sin and doesn’t even know how to sin. Then God creates two special trees; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He puts them right where they cannot be unseen.
Then, He tells man to eat from any other tree but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Really? It’s like telling a kid not to switch on the TV. It only sparks more curiosity. Did God actually expect Adam not to eat from the tree?
God is always revealing a side of Him we have never known. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever but to our limited capacities, today we understand Him as El-Shaddai, tomorrow He reveals Himself as El-Elyon. Our capacities are very limited in comparison to an infinite God.
So God created Adam with the ability to grow and be more like God. Adam wasn’t fully like God. He had to grow everyday to be more like Him. How do I know this? Because even as completely new creatures in Christ, we still need to grow. To understand this more, check out my blog post on the Revelation of Mystery.
So just as you’re born with a sex drive but you have to mature to a certain stage before you can “taste the fruit”, God put the tree there as a remembrance of further things to come and as a motivation to mature.
Trust me, there are things that already belong to you that God gives you but still asks you to wait for the kairos moment. Just like kids gotta wait till Christmas Day to open their presents. You can open it 2 days before Christmas. It satisfies the curiosity but takes the fun out of the whole idea.
Adam was like God. God has all knowledge of good and evil. (After all, He’s the judge of the universe. How will he judge evil if He had no knowledge of it?) But Adam wasn’t like God yet in that sense; he didn’t have “the [experiential] knowledge (recognition) of [the difference between] good and evil” yet.
How do I know this? Because after eating the fruit, God Himself admits that Adam now has the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil….” in Genesis 3:22.
The sin Adam and Eve committed had little to do with the fruit. The actual sin was choosing the word of the devil over the Word of God. It was believing and obeying the devil. The sin was disobeying God. Alhough they had become enlightened, they became naked and ashamed and vulnerable. They hid from God, why not the devil? That’s what sin did and does to us all the time, no matter the kind of sin.
God does not and cannot be tempted. God wasn’t tempting man. If this was so, Adam and Eve would have eaten the fruit long before the serpent (the enemy) came along. Adam and Eve had everything they needed. What did the enemy do? He tried to draw their minds to the only thing they couldn’t have at the moment.
Are you being motivated to pursue the things of God while being patient with His perfect timing, or you’re focusing on what don’t have and desire to have it contemptuously?
There will always be more questions than answers. Certain questions do not need answers, because our answers are a failed attempt to express the inexpressible. Not everything needs to be explained; some simply need to be experienced.
It is better to have unanswerable questions than to have unquestionable answers. Unanswerable questions lead us to wonder and curiosity. Unquestionable answers, however, usually have an underlying superstition and are a cover-up of ignorance.
There are 4 types of knowledge; what you know that you know, what you know that you don’t know, what you don’t know that you know and what you don’t know that you don’t know. You know what you know but if you stop learning, you will not know what you know anymore. Proverbs 19:27 says “My child, when you stop learning, you will soon neglect what you already know”. If you stop seeking, you will not know what to know anymore. Everything will confuse you. You will move through life not knowing anymore, swayed by any strong wind.
How to Not Know What You Know that You Don’t Know
If you are proud, you will never know what you don’t know. You will think that you know, and you will miss opportunities to know what you don’t know. When you speak, you say what you already know. When you listen, you learn something new. Unfortunately, pride keeps one to oneself, making one refuse to listen, understand another person and agree to disagree; thus missing opportunities to learn and grow.
How to Know What You Don’t Know that You Know
If you’re not intuitive, you won’t get the opportunity to know what you already know. Deep within us is an eternal knowledge base. Great thinkers like Isaac Newton and Nikola Tesla got in touch with this reality. To know what you didn’t know that you knew, think from your heart and not your mind. If you’re humble, you’re probably wiser than you think you are. Use your discretion. 1 John 2:20 says “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things”.
This is how prophets prophesy. They didn’t know that they knew what they said a few moments before they said it. However, know for sure that you’re not always right. That’s why you need to practice and build your capacity. Hebrews 5:14 says this is for people “who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern…”. Once you train yourself to discern knowledge from your own thoughts and knowledge from God’s thoughts, it is simple to give a word of knowledge.
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
Know for sure that not all questions need answers. Some need acknowledgement of a lack of capacity to fully understand. Unanswerable questions make us acknowledge our knowledge of ignorance; knowing that we don’t know. Knowing that we don’t know humbles us enough to want to know more. Unquestionable answers often bar us from further inquiries, deeper experiences and tasting to see for ourselves.
That notwithstanding, we even lack the capacity to not know that we don’t know in some matters. It’s a fact. You don’t know what you don’t know. Have you been in an exam and had absolutely no clue what the answer to a question was? In fact, you just want to write something wrong there but even with that, your mind is blank. If they left you there for 10 years, you still wouldn’t know the answer.
It’s confusing that deep within us we know all things yet we lack simple knowledge when it comes to certain matters. I personally think this is to keep us from overcomplicating our lives and priding ourselves in what we know. Pride is the biggest impediment to knowledge. Once you’re your own source of knowledge, you seize to be a learner. The knowledge of not knowing that you don’t know ought to make you a seeker of knowledge within and without.
Don’t just answer questions. Question answers. History wasn’t written by nature. Coincidences have significance. It’s not always about knowing the differences between similarities but finding the similarities between two seemingly dissimilar concepts. Yes, you may know the difference between jealousy and envy but do you know there are similarities between truth and love, logic and emotions, and justice and mercy? There are hidden correlations everywhere.
It’s funny how we know much but sometimes we feel we’ve known enough. The day you think you know is the day you stop learning, searching and seeking. Knowledge is a treasure. It hides from the simpleton. That’s why common sense is uncommon to common people. If you’re always quick to regurgitate what you already know, you don’t discover anything new on your own.
Before you assume, ask. Before you answer, question. Sometimes what we think we know stops us from finding out what we ought to know. Answers don’t come to those who guess, it comes to those who search. And though we can never know all there is to know about any particular thing, it shouldn’t stop the curiosity in us from digging deeper. Paul said it this way, “Yes, may you come to know…—although it can never be fully known…”.
