I’m not thinking specifically of formal education having to do with employment. I’m thinking more of the process of learning and personal transformation.
When, if ever, should we put the brakes on this process and say “That’s enough”?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
7 responses to “Is there such a thing as too much education or knowledge?”
I don’t think there is a single answer to this question. Different strokes for different folks and how each individual personality’s behavioural response works with that intellectual capacity.
There is a concern I have about it and it relates to the axiom that “knowledge is power”.
I think it would be fair to say that various people have various responses to having power. It does something to you, whereby you can use it constructively, or with personal gain the sole target.
Personally, I want to know enough that I can live MY life productively. While I do want to understand some fundamental reasons why I may feel the way I do about some very fundamental issues, I am letting go of a desire to want to know everything.
Unless everyone acquires equal knowledge; I think the frustration can overwhelm the benefits.
@spitfire3dc
I wonder what the interplay is between knowledge understanding and wisdom?
One can know something without understanding how it may nest within everything else (ie, consequences of misuse). That kind of knowledge quickly becomes dangerous.
And even deeper understanding of the complex interplay between things (including personal ego) does not guarantee one will act wisely.
An old biblical aphorism comes to mind: knowledge puffs up but wisdom builds up.
Having seen a man transfigure, and so many miracles since birth, I have to say, unless you have seen anywhere near such terrible vistas.. you have a lot way to go.
In Isaiah 65, it is pointed out those who fail to live to 100 even are considered mere infants.
So, most wise bet is that you are as yet a mere infant, in the eyes of God, the angels, and the future saints.
Good to be as humble as me.
That last line was a trick.
I won’t lie, my face shows what I have seen: so ordinary people would do well about not seeking to know everything… or your eyes will change in such a way everyone knows.
Yes.
When you
A) Can’t process it
B) Can’t do anything with it
and
C) Don’t want to know the implications of it.
Example: let’s say you stumbled upon a sex tape of your parents “doing it” in evey way imaginable – such a thing would scar you for life, yes?
@Jear77
But being patently incapable of “un-seeing it”, one must reconcile it.
Or forever be on the run from an integral part of themself!
So is “the fear of what you might find”, sufficient reason to bury one’s head in the sand?
@griz Oedipus Rex had a 3rd solution: never see anything else again. He blinded himself.
@Jear77
But was it an effective solution?
Does our not seeing the predatory cat creeping up on us . . . in any way prevent or negate the fact that it is creeping up on us?
(Which actually has interesting tie-ins to postmodernistic thinking. There may be infinite ways to perceive something; but only a very very very few of them are actually effective/functional)