Ayella Amuru, a consummate writer shares his experiences of what he deems to define what life should entail.
I had a conversation with a university professor who was pursuing a second PhD in a certain field of academia and I asked him why he keeps pursuing knowledge? I asked him whether accumulation of knowledge leads to intelligence and his response was—YES, I laughed. Then I asked him whether there is any complete knowledge about anything, his response was—NO, which is true. I asked him another question; If there is no complete knowledge about anything then surely accumulation of knowledge can never lead to intelligence, that is when it hit him that his academic pursuits would never lead to intelligence but maybe provide a better livelihood for himself.
If there is anytime in human history where human beings have had abundance of knowledge, it is in this 21st Century. The biggest challenge with this generation is not lack of knowledge, it is poor education. Education should NEVER be for purposes of making a living, education should have been about understanding life which should be based on facts not theories. Education doesn’t end when you graduate, the whole movement of life is education but we reduced education to accumulation of knowledge and passing a written exam. When we leave school to face the real world, depression kicks in because we were never prepared to face life, we were prepared to earn a livelihood.
We have accumulated a great deal of knowledge about so many things but to act intelligently with the knowledge we have accumulated seems impossible. We have cultivated knowledge about science, the universe, commerce, human behaviour and every form of technology but we are still barbarians. The understanding of the fact that accumulation of knowledge can never solve human problems is intelligence. With all the knowledge we have accumulated, we have never stopped killing and destroying the planet. Intelligence is in right action and right action would be to stop the endless wars, preserve the environment and find a way of coexisting with one another without national, racial, ethnic and social boundaries.