We live in the Information Age. We can discover the facts of virtually anything we want to know within just a few clicks. But more information doesn’t necessarily make us any wiser. And often we suffer from information overload that drains the soul and robs us of our inner vitality.
Of course, there are many benefits to being well informed. Generally speaking, the more we know the more we are able to make grounded and deliberate choices. We’re not constantly at the mercy of others who might not always have our best interest in mind. And we can consider different points of view and reason for ourselves the best course forward.
Certainly, there’s no wisdom in remaining willfully ignorant as we try to navigate life and relationships.
At the same time, we’re reminded there will always be another book or article, podcast or insight to consume. And always consuming more and more will eventually wear us out.
Additionally, more information is not always helpful simply because we don’t know how to organize and make sense of all the facts we’ve gathered.
For instance, reading countless blogs on our medical symptoms can be insightful, but this doesn’t replace going to medical school. And often it just makes us more anxious as we don’t know how to synthesize all the information we’ve collected.
Likewise, knowing more social, political, and even personal facts about another doesn’t necessarily lead us to a better life and relationships. Often we just have the facts and we’re still missing the heart, spirit, and story that help us to make sense of what we’ve learned.
Facts may be necessary. But they’re not sufficient by themselves. We still need a larger story to guide us so we’re consuming fruitful information and not just empty facts.
By all means, learn what you can. But add to your knowledge wisdom – learning how to rightly handle the information you gain and knowing when to stop before you reach information overload.
Photo by No Revisions on Unsplash
