knowledge + experience

I didn’t get to go outside today because of the rain,
I suppose I could have just walked on out there and
have gotten soaked to the bone, it would have been fine,
I would have survived — if I were all dried up and parched
in a desert I would have welcomed the rain, desired it
even — I guess it’s all about perspective…I wonder if I’ll
ever actually be in a desert, like in my lifetime, I wonder
if I’ll ever even be truly thirsty, or truly hungry
for that matter — I’m thirsty for something, I know that,
I can feel it, I think it’s knowledge, but it could be power too
— imagine if we could get knowledge and power on tap
like we do water, just fill up a glass whenever you feel like,
add a little lemon wedge to it, a few ice cubes —
a fresh chilled cup of power, a frosty glass of knowledge…
I don’t want knowledge without experience, though —
you want a story to go along with it, you always have to
have something to say to people, adds mystique or
excitement to your otherwise ordinary life commentary —
enhances the whole comedy of self, so yeah, there you go,
stay thirsty, tap the power, get knowledge + experience
which equals story, and there you have it, the sense that
you’re some kind of interesting person after all,
well you are, aren’t you? I don’t know…I just don’t know…

“In the beginning was the Word. Then came the fucking word processor. Then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature. And so it goes.”― Dan Simmons, Hyperion

Garbage Notes:

So this one is about wanting things. It’s about our desires and our needs. It’s about our perception of what makes a good life and what we need to feel fulfilled.

Personally a lot of my desires come from craving knowledge. I love learning. I’ve always wanted to know things. And as they say, with knowledge comes power. I guess as a kid growing up, I fed in to that script.

The more you know, the more control you can wield over your environment. And you don’t have to be scared because you know exactly how things are going to play out. You can anticipate all the things that are going to happen.

It’s probably why I found myself on the path towards academia. I think I saw some kind of freedom on that path—intellectual freedom, mostly, but also freedom from a lot of the responsibilities of everyday life and tedious work that I just didn’t want to have to deal with. But I realized that most knowledge is hollow without some kind of meaningful experience attached to it.

You can live a life that is mostly mental, filled with academic pursuits, but if you don’t go out there and make mistakes and fuck shit up, then you’re never going to get your hands on the kind of real accomplishments that are worth having.

Like the poem says, it might be easier to just have this unending tap where you can draw endless amounts of knowledge and power, where you can discover anything you want about the natural world, and you have as much time as you need to figure it all out. But the world doesn’t work like that, no matter what anyone else tells you.

Things get in the way. People get in your way. Tragedy gets in the way. You get in your own way. So much of life is about muddling through, being persistent, falling on your ass, and learning the hard way. Knowledge really is nothing without experience. And failure creates the best stories. So don’t be afraid to mess up.

The Hyperion quote was something that had accompanied the original publication of this poem. Last year when I published this piece, I was reading Dan Simmons’ epic science fiction novel, and it was definitely one of the best books I had read that year.

A major theme in that novel is the journey towards understanding the mysteries of the world and the universe. And many of the characters are trying to understand their role in the grand scheme of things, why they were chosen for their journey, and what connects them to the other pilgrims. They come to realize that their character flaws are as crucial to understanding their purpose as their strengths. It’s our imperfection that unites us in the end.

So I suspect all of that was rolling around in my head at the time. It’s a great novel—you should check it out. Not exactly an easy read. It’s set up kind of like The Canterbury Tales, but set in a wild futuristic world where there’s time warps and sentient AI and all sorts of other crazy shit that most of us can barely relate to. But each story has a real human element to it, a struggle that creates true emotional resonance. So it’s definitely worth a read.

Anti Void

If you enjoyed this piece and would like to support me I recommend this book that literally saved me from severe depression. Click here. Also subscribe to see more of my work and like and comment down below your reviews. Thanks