Walk with me, if you will, through the garden of my mind.
At kung fu, we talk a lot about the practical application of the fighting techniques we practice. Something that comes up not infrequently is the concept of the importance of remembering that "normies" (or, "normal people"--those who don't train any kind of self-defense) don't have the same kind of physical conditioning or training that we do. Once you hit a certain point in your training, normal people become, essentially, meat bags at your mercy. Hence the vital importance of training the spirit as well as the body; the ability to use power without the inner discipline to use it effectively and constructively leads to misery.
While it might seem elitist, this concept is absolutely true. Those who spend the requisite blood, sweat, and tears to train any endeavor over years will reap the reward of being much more competent at that then a large majority of the population. It's also true that there's always somebody better than you--always--but the more you train, the more exclusive of a cohort you belong to. This is true of every type of endeavor. Those who study the most--and the most intelligently-- become the best mathematicians; those who train the hardest become the best football players, etc.
The question arises, then, whether being fully "integrated"--that is to say, having optimal physical, cognitive, emotional, spiritual, and social health and living a balanced, highly productive life--works the same way. No matter which culture you look at, wisdom literature often contains the same elements: don't be trapped by attachments to the world, avoid the pride attendant with wealth and success, don't get taken in by society's false beliefs or fads, live the Golden Rule, etc. It stands to reason, then, that the authors of these various texts from around the world all embarked on a similar path of leaving the mundane world and society behind in favor of greater self-awareness, enlightenment, and personal power. They each discovered similar truths about human nature.
From the perspective of a "normal" person, ignorant of and uncaring about the inward journey transcendence, there may seem to be no difference between these various texts and traditions. Yet there are. No one is perfect, and no one agrees perfectly, either. The Buddha and Jesus Christ are perhaps the two most influential religious figures in history--with succeeding generations of their followers claiming that both were, in essence, gods--and yet, from what records we have, their ontology and lifestyles differed, sometimes significantly.
This then raises the question whether one's teachings are superior to the other. Another possibility is that neither set of teachings is superior, but each charts different courses to the same destination--similar to reaching a mountain's peak by hiking up two different faces. And the fact that there are two different ways to answer that question presupposes that there is an answer that is more true than the other; possibly, the exists a third answer that is more true than both of those. There exists a hierarchy of truth, with one proposition being more true than another until you get to one that is True, with a capital "T", and completely and accurately reflects the reality of the situation.
This hierarchy of truth, if you will, lies at the heart of the journey towards enlightenment. Climbing it is like climbing a peak and returns rewards of real, genuine knowledge, earned by the mental toll involved in finding and reconciling paradox and overcoming opposition.
As the adage goes, knowledge is power. Sun Tzu wrote that "if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles". Knowledge of self is gained through the climb up the mountain and leads to a knowledge of human nature. Knowledge of human nature leads to knowledge of others. The higher up the mountain a man climbs, the more knowledge of himself and others he acquired, and he gains more and more power to win in confrontations with others. The question becomes, at that point, how he will use that power. Those who climb high enough behind either fearful tyrants or beloved rulers, known for their wisdom and integrity. Eventually, there is no other option.
This, then, is the first part of the problem with knowledge. Knowledge cannot be divorced from power; therefore, the more knowledge you have the more dangerous you become to those whose agenda is oppositional to yours. Real knowledge cannot be gained without the struggle of overcoming those who seek to break you down and subdue you because they fear you and what you represent. Sometimes the opposition is from another person, sometimes it seems to be coming from the world and society, and sometimes it comes from within you as old habits seek to draw you backwards into a lifestyle you try to leave behind.
The second problem with knowledge involves arrogance. What I've described above is understood by everyone, on an instinctual level. When we genuinely improve, we transcend what we once were. We realize that we are better than we were before, with more knowledge and power, and belonging to a more exclusive group of more enlightened individuals. When we turn our attention outwards after making this realization, that same sense of superiority is applied to others. The feeling of growth becomes a feeling of superiority that must be actively countered if it is to be regulated effectively.
One paradox of transcendence is that arrogance (as a feeling that by its nature attaches you to others in a negative way) is anathema to genuine, balanced self-improvement, yet the path of enlightenment naturally leads to arrogance. Like the physical breath that gives us life produces a substance that cannot sustain life--carbon dioxide--so too does the inward journey produce something that must be released to progress. The soul must be cleansed of this arrogance, and the best way is by serving and loving others. This restores the balance and equality between you and others and frees the soul to climb the mountain even higher.
This, then, is the second problem of knowledge: as a natural byproduct of obtaining it, you develop an arrogant pride that, if not addressed, becomes elitism. Elitism becomes a form of tribalism--be it racial, national, or ideological in nature--that encourages the subjugation of the "less enlightened". This plays out in a variety of ways--slavery, caste and feudal systems, and genocide are all based on this principle. The problem here is that, just like there's always going to be someone better at you in physical fighting, there will always be someone who's better than you at wielding their knowledge, too. Social hierarchies can only exist through various means of coercion, thought control, and physical force--and eventually someone will come along and overthrow the whole system. The only way to keep power indefinitely is not by force or coercion, although that is the easier path to get power immediately.
Knowledge is a weapon more powerful than any bomb, and should be carefully treated as one. It has the seeds of destruction as well as creation inherent in its nature, and should be sought carefully, with prudence.
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