Implementation
Know the truth and the truth will set you free—but only if you live it, apply it, implement on it. Knowledge alone won’t fix your relationship with your mate, repair your life, end your sorrows. We need to LIVE what we know, and we need real life experience, for many reasons:
SOUL NOURISHMENT How does the idea of sailing round the world compare to doing it? How does studying about love compare to falling in love, and loving? People can starve while thinking about food. Living experience feeds the soul so much more than mere thinking or intellectual learning.
STRENGTH They say regular jogging will get us in shape, but will we get fit just by knowing that? No way. Brain knowledge won’t make us strong, or skillful. And it sure won’t get us where we want to go. We gain strength from exercise.
SKILL Practice makes perfect because we get to see what works and what doesn’t. Pilots learn to fly not by reading books, but by flying planes. Likewise, we learn by noticing our effects on people, and on life—and refining what we do.
DEPTH Too many ideas do justice to none. Just as a promiscuous man appreciates each woman less, a collector of too many truths grows numb to the value of each. We need the deep understanding that only comes from applying truth.
CLEAR CONSCIENCE With knowledge comes responsibility—or else shame. Have you ever made a promise—to yourself or someone else— you didn’t keep? Similarly, learning without implementing only creates guilt and reduces self- esteem. Well-being requires know power and go power.
TRUE WISDOM Only through experience do we learn one of life’s most important lessons: that selfishness ruins life and love. We don’t learn to transcend egoism in our heads; we learn that with real-life practice.
PURPOSE IN ACTION
Skillful implementation and beautiful results start with truly good intentions. A person with selfish motives tends to be insensitive, reactive, and in conflict with others. When you want to be good to/for people, you pay close attention to your effects—and you adjust quickly if you see a negative impact on a loved one’s face. Because you care.
STEERING IN ACTION
As a child of God, you don’t want to have bad effects on your- self or others. So you’re willing to feel for what’s right, and correct your course as needed. That’s what children of God naturally do. Furthermore, they don’t just give up because it didn’t work the first time; they persist while constantly adjusting and tuning for best results.
A wealth of experience is real wealth.
Knowledge is a sign: to get its benefit we must walk where it points on our own feet.
A lazy knowledge collector gets guilt to the hilt.
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