KNOWLEDGE AND WISDOM

Thanks to today's technology, accessing information has become easier, and now we can reach a vast amount of knowledge with just a few finger movements. Sometimes, information is merely an ear’s distance away—just having a friend who has heard about it can be enough.

• “I just can’t solve my eating problem.”

• “Overeating happens due to emotional hunger.”

A piece of information that benefits neither the one who speaks nor the one who listens…

We hear it, accept it as true, and even pass it on to others.

However, what truly matters is knowing what to do with information and then actually doing it, isn’t it?

If we define something as a "problem" for ourselves and want to solve it, we must move from the stage of "learning knowledge" to the stage of "wanting to apply knowledge in life."

In this case, we might first conduct more detailed research on the information we have learned. Going back to the previous example:

• "What does emotional hunger mean?"

• "How can one cope with emotional hunger?"

And…

We acquire even more knowledge.

At this point, however, we may sometimes find ourselves trapped in an endless cycle of accumulating information.

I would like to elaborate on this topic with one of my favorite stories.

A child would break out in sores every time he ate honey, but he simply couldn’t stop eating it. His family, desperate to curb their child's obsession, consulted various doctors and tried numerous measures, all to no avail. Finally, upon recommendation, they sought out Imam Abu Hanifa. After listening to the issue, Imam Abu Hanifa told the parents, "Come back in forty days." Though they couldn't understand why, they had no choice but to leave. Forty days later, they returned to Imam Abu Hanifa. He had a brief conversation with the child and then simply told him, "From now on, do not eat honey, my child." Then he turned to the parents and said, "You may go now." The parents exchanged bewildered glances as if to say, “Is that all?” After all, waiting forty days only to hear a single sentence hardly seemed logical. But the man before them was the greatest scholar of the time—not just anyone. So, they followed his advice and returned home. In the days that followed, they noticed that their child no longer craved honey! Puzzled by this outcome, they once again sought out Imam Abu Hanifa and asked, "Sir, you only said one sentence to him. How did you make him give up honey? What is the secret?" Smiling, Imam Abu Hanifa replied, "Forty days ago, I, too, was eating honey. Someone who eats honey cannot effectively tell another not to eat it. When you first came to me, I stopped eating honey myself. I first tested it on my own soul. Once I saw that it was possible to give it up, my words carried weight and had an effect on your child."

The most crucial aspect of the path to wisdom is acting in accordance with the knowledge one has acquired and fulfilling the requirements of that knowledge.

For "knowledge" to transform into "wisdom," it must become a state of being within us.

Gökçe YILMAZ