We Are Constantly Bombarded By Knowledge

There is a saying: "When the disciple is ready, the master will appear." The logical part of my brain thought it was crap for a very long time. I imagined it as meaning that a person will "level up" in terms of mental capacity and, at that moment, a wizened old man will show up. I understand now that I had misunderstood the premise all along.

We are constantly bombarded by knowledge. If you have ever heard people discussing neutrinos, these harmless particles that are traveling through everyone and everything all the time, then you can imagine knowledge working very similarly.

Every person you meet has something to say. If a person is old enough to know how to talk, they have knowledge to share. Most of it we tune out because it's meaningless to us. People either tell you stuff you already know or tell you stuff that's wrong. And every now and then, you're talking with somebody, and they start telling you stuff, and it actually makes sense. You start listening to them, thinking about their words, their ideas, and what they really mean, and it turns out they mean a lot. Your life changes that day. You have changed that day. And from here on out, that person's knowledge is now your knowledge.

If you had seen that person on any day before that one, his words would have just been stupid or wrong. He was still there, but you as a person weren't ready for what he had to say. Your mind was not ready to receive and appreciate this knowledge. But it was always there.

This is not me telling you to do anything or change who you are. All I want to do is present a way of thinking about the world, and the people, around you. Consider the possibility that knowledge surrounds you, permeating every crevice of the world. Think about yourself not as the same person from day to day, but as constantly changing as a flowing river. If you do this, you may realize that, indeed, when you are ready, the master will appear and teach you.