Knowledge
is the awareness of a subject, and the degree of awareness can be marked from
Acquaintance to Doctorate. Every human has knowledge and in my view can have
enormous number of Ph.Ds in his or her own subject of interest.
The
owner of a residence will know his house, in and out better than his neighbor
even though he did not get a certified Degree from any University nor was he
judged by a panel to compare his knowledge with those of others concerned.
I
recently read an article on BBC’s Website “Why is it so hard to give good
directions?” and a phrase used in the article caught my eye, "curse of
knowledge". It’s a psychological quirk whereby ‘one’ finds it hard to see
how others would see the world differently than the way one has perceived his
own knowledge. This can also be explained using a simple example, when you give
directions to someone on the phone ‘it’s the house on left’, you have already
perceived that he is facing the direction normally you would have. Admit it, we
have all faced this situation more times than we could recall.
The
reality is, the curse of knowledge is not limited to problems in directions. It
also prevails in arenas of work, education, entertainment and relationships. Its
fault of neither, but the problem needs a solution none the less, and it’s a
fairly straightforward one, but yes it does require some extra effort.
So
the next time you are giving directions, explaining your views or merely seeking
an answer, do not just point the obvious, explain the scenario.
