Education/data are key in life. I wonder why it is so hard for people to recognize this?
All day, every day I am researching to find the best solutions for my clients. The field of IT changes so rapidly that you really have to constantly research to be on top of the market and developments. I find this both exhausting and exhilarating.
No matter what your personal beliefs are, understanding the basics of life is critical. One of the reasons that I find Amish and other societies that deemphasize education interesting is how their life changes because of it. I understand that most Amish have an 8th-grade education at most, while very religiously close members of Mennonites regularly are doctors/lawyers. To me, this religious/philosophical opinion is fascinating but not one in which I share.
This is not to throw shade at the Amish. If someone has a religious belief the US was founded with religious tolerance as one of its principles. I agree that all legal religious should be honored. This is rather to say, when you grow up in a society that is so heavily based on education/science, how strange I find it when people reject that foundation. Yet they never reject the benefits of science/education strangely.
I respect the Amish’s belief in not valuing science/education because for the most part they truly live that. They have outhouses and make their lives filled with manual labor to avoid technology. This is very different from the person who believes that the earth is flat, yet still uses the internet. I find that person confusing and willfully ignorant.
I think there is a difference in belief when someone follows the consequences of their belief to its logical conclusion. I don’t care that the Amish sometimes get medical help from a doctor, or work in buildings that have electricity. When they go home, it is to kerosene lamps, candles, or some primitive technology. That is commitment.
What I find interesting is that we have the entire world’s knowledge at our fingertips, yet we are not less ignorant we are more. We divide ourselves into cliques and defend our “beliefs” regardless of the facts. Ignoring the fact doesn’t make it go away.
Every time that I have learned something it has helped me at some stage of life. I can’t think of anything I have learned that I haven’t used in some way. At the very least learning challenges my beliefs, and that is always healthy. It is not easy to challenge your beliefs, but if you don’t, you can’t call yourself a conscious person. We take pride in our will/freedom, yet as the famous book said “Man is born free, yet is everywhere in chains”. Ignorance is a chain, and I see people willingly add chains to themselves and they are not happier because of it.