INFORMATION, BELIEF, KNOWLEDGE
Most people do not understand the significant difference between these three terms. This is why, almost everything that people think they know, is not what they know, it is what they believe. Let me explain in detail.
Information is any data that you become aware of, perceived by your body senses that is the five material senses of the flesh and the senses of your spirit. If you had no senses, you would not be able to receive any information.
Some examples:
All your senses perceive and send data to mind for processing. Very small amount of this data is noticed by your intellect; in other words, you become aware of only a tiny amount of data which was processed by your mind. The rest is stored in your memory; it can be called ‘unconscious’ or ‘subconscious’ information.
Usually, when people say ‘information’, what they mean is what they have seen or heard, that is data perceived by their eyes or ears. I also do not want to go too deep in scientific details explaining data and senses; therefore, from now on, when I write ‘information’, I usually mean what we see and hear.
Everything that you read is just information, regardless of its source. It may be an article on the Internet, a chapter in an ancient holy book, an announcement on a shop window, etc. – all of that is just information, not your knowledge.
Everything that you see and hear on TV, Internet, cinema, etc. is just information, regardless of its source.; that is not your knowledge.
When information comes to you, you can believe or doubt it. You are probably aware that most of information published by the of mass media is, at least, inaccurate. A lot of information published in historical and scientific books is also inaccurate, sometimes it is lies.
When you notice information, you can choose – to believe or doubt it. You believe when you suppose that information is true. When you suspect that information is not true, you doubt it.
Belief and doubt are things that you do not know, so they are not your knowledge. What you read or see is not what you know. Let me give you two examples.
Let us imagine that you read something in a worldwide recognized, highly respected so-called holy book. What you read is just information, it is not your knowledge, therefore you should not say that you know that. You can say that you believe or doubt that.
Let us imagine that you are watching a science documentary film. For you, the content of the film is information only, it is not your knowledge. Again, you can say that you believe what was presented in the film, but you do not know it, although you know what you have seen.
Do you get the point? You know what you have read and seen but information contained in these sources is not your knowledge. That is only information which you can believe or doubt.
It is quite possible that the author of a book wrote all the content from their knowledge. In other words, the author really knew the material, so it was their knowledge, not a belief.
It may be the same in case of a film. The film director was based on their knowledge, not their belief, while producing it.
What I want to emphasize here is that information may come from the knowledge of those who have published it. However, according to results of my research, most information is publish based on beliefs of authors, not from their knowledge. People believe something, they may be sure that it is true, so they spread this information.
Be aware that, regardless of the source, what you see and read may not be true. Regardless of whether it is true or not, this information is not your knowledge, it is still information for you. As long as you do not know, you can only say that you believe or doubt that information.
In other words, you can believe or doubt information which is true or false, because you do not know it.
When you become interested in some information, you can decide to check it out. The more you experience this information, the closer to your knowledge it becomes. What you read or see is not your knowledge, it is just information, but when you take this information, research it, work with it, experience it with all your senses, then it may become your knowledge. Knowledge is a structure which you have built on your experience and then stored in your memory.
Now, let us check whether you understand my explanation. Would you like to answer questions?
There are endless examples where people say that they know, but in fact they do not know, they believe. In all of above questions, the proper answer is “I do not know.” (Unless you really did know.)
If you say that you know, then I ask you – How do you know? Was it because somebody told you? Did you find it written in a book? Well, all of these is not your knowledge, it is information only.
Shocked? Vast majority of people even do not know who gave birth to their body, when and where it occurred. Of course, when you ask them, they answer that they are sure, it was their mother; but still, they cannot say that they know, unless they really clearly remember their own birth.
Knowledge cannot be given to you. Knowledge cannot be read or seen. Knowledge has to be built on your own experience. When you have information, you need to see it, hear it, smell it, touch it, taste it, etc., maybe many times in different circumstances. This is how you build your own knowledge. Then you can say that you know. This process may be instant or it may take a long time.
Knowledge stored in your memory is eternal and can be retrieved. While retrieving your knowledge, you can share it by writing, talking, drawing, or in other ways. That is your knowledge which you are sharing, but for the others it will be information only. You cannot give them your knowledge.
One more important thing. Knowledge is relative. Several people can have different knowledge about the same thing. For example; imagine that you are sitting in a small room with two friends. Then you say, from your knowledge “It is quite warm here.”. This is true for you, you really feel warm, that is your clear experience.
Your friend says “It is cold here.”. That is true, he knows what he feels, so he is talking from his knowledge.
The third friend says “It is just right here, very comfortable.”. He feels his body so he knows what he says.
You see, three people talking from their own knowledge, but they state differently about the room temperature affecting their bodies.
Remember, knowledge is relative. What you know about a subject, does not have to be exactly the same what others know about it, although all will speak truth. Due to this reason, also due to other reasons, truth is relative. You are the source of your knowledge and truth.
I hope that now you understand me better, why I have insisted that you do not believe what you read in this book. I really do not want you to believe me. Although I may talk from my knowledge in this book, my knowledge is not yours, and my truth is not yours. I share my knowledge and my beliefs with you. I am glad that you pay attention to it, but in order to know, you need to research and experience, to build your knowledge.
Now, when you are more aware of what is the difference between information, belief and knowledge, let me warn you once again. I share what I have found out, because I consider it to be very important, although I suppose that this warning may be shocking for you.
When I look at many web sites on the Internet, dedicated to and explaining so-called spiritual teachings, I see so much false information. When I listen to so-called masters or enlightened teachers, I hear so much false information. When I read books written by famous authors, who are widely advertised as enlightened masters, I see so much false information.
Be aware, that masters and teachers, enlightened or not, famous or not, are known for disseminating false information, this is because they often teach what they believe.
Let me tell you straight, because in my opinion this is really important, do not behave blindly like a sheep. Mainly what I mean, do not allow others to feed you with false information. Stating it simply, do not blindly believe what you read, hear and see. It is worth to pay attention to some information but believing or following it may cause harm. Therefore, I suggest that you check it out on yourself and see how it works for you.
Every man, regardless whether they are a homeless drunk or the most respected master, spreads true and false information during their life. Therefore, when you blindly follow their information, you may be wandering on your path of conscious self-development.
Karma is a Sanskrit word which became popular all over the planet. It can be analyzed from two points of view, one is scientific, the other is religious. The scientific definition is Newton's third law, also known as the law of action-reaction, which states “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. You can find detailed explanation of this principle in physics books.
Karma is an important part of Buddhism and Hinduism; as such, it is an example of a widely spread belief. According to this belief, whatever you think about, say or do to other being, mainly man, will come back to you. Especially when you do something “bad” or “good”, it will return to you. Therefore it is suggested that you do “good” in order to accumulate a lot of “good” which you will experience later in this or next life. This belief of ‘your actions will cause reactions which will affect you’ is present in many religions.
Christianity does not use the term “karma” but there is a very similar concept where God rewards people for doing good deeds and punishes them for sins. Besides that, there are many citation in the Bible, with one being most famous – “You reap what you sow.” – which essentially preaches what Hindu and Buddhist karma teaches.
As you can conclude, religious karma is based on judgment. You need to judge thoughts, words and actions whether they are “good”, “neutral” or “bad”. There is no religious karma where there is no judgment.
Hence judgment is based on belief, you first have to believe that there are good or bad deeds. Therefore, first, deeds have to be defined in two categories, good and bad, whether by you or by others. If you accept definitions of others, what is good or bad, then you follow their beliefs.
In practical life, if you do something which is “good” to other man, they will be inclined to recompense you with something commonly judged as ”good”, whenever there is an occasion to do that. If you understand how the mind works, then you will see how programs built in instinct, running judgments, function and interact between people. These programs can be called karma software.
In your culture, some actions are programmed to be judged “good”, but in other cultures exactly same actions are programmed “bad”. Besides that, in some circumstances an action can be “good”, but it becomes “bad” in other circumstances. Then, how karma works in these cases? Well, the results of the actions will depend on the judgments of people involved in those circumstances.
As you can see, the religious karma is just programming found in instinct. Manipulators use their knowledge of your instinct in order to create your beliefs and make you to follow them. They need sheep. Do you want to be one?