Power Of The Mind – Spiritual Samurai Writes

You know how the saying goes, that if you are “a jack of all trades you’re a master of none.”

Basically, either you focus all your time and energy on mastering one thing at a time, or you learn how to do various skills with just enough experience to get you by.

My question then comes…

Can we truly just master one thing?

Think about it. Knowledge is infinite. There’s a lot we have yet to learn, and that still leaves us with plenty of information waiting to be discovered. How far does the rabbit hole go for every subject?

And we’re only talking about ONE subject.

If we haven’t gotten ALL the knowledge of ONE subject, can you imagine the vast knowledge of the multitude of subjects?

It would take lifetimes.

So it seems that for as long as we reside in this physical plane of existence on the Earth, we will technically always be the “Jack or Jill of all trades” or “a master of none” because everything we learn is a work in progress no matter how much expertise we think we have, it’s not the ultimate. There’s no end to what we can acquire.

The moment we began to believe that we’ve completely MASTERED something, is the moment we set limitations on our inquisitive mind, we slow down our appetite to learn, and we close off any new information that comes our way.

Not to mention pridefulness may get the best of us. Preventing us from expanding our horizons. Humility is key to growth. The wisest people know that they know nothing at all. Here’s an interesting article that breaks down what Socrates meant by his quote “I know that I know nothing.”

Then there’s also an African proverb:

See, when you remain humble you are open to new opportunities to learn and gain eye-opening perceptions. You never shut down the doors for new truckloads of information to stock up your mind with. Of course, you want to let it simmer in and marinate for some time before refilling the mind with a new batch of knowledge. You don’t want to get information overload where you are so overwhelmed by vast information that you don’t even want to think anymore. You cannot come to a final decision. So you end up skipping the simmering part: the part where you let your brain soak it all in.

Information overload can be best described in the Spongebob SquarePants show, the episode where Squidward was trying to impress his rival Squilliam with his fake fancy restaurant: the part where Spongebob was made to study the entire book about “how to master fine dining in 20 minutes” and when Spongebob finished reading he basically exclaimed (in summation), “I FEEL LIKE MY BRAIN’S ABOUT TO EXPLODE!!!” If you want to watch a short clip click here, laugh a little, and you’ll see what I mean!

You cannot force your mind to absorb too much, too soon. Knowledge is refreshing and learning should be an enjoyable experience, not a migraine-prone activity. So it goes back to the question: can we truly master one thing?

I think not.

However, we can attain as much knowledge as we can, and use it to our best ability. But do not shut down the doors, you don’t want to prevent your mind from aggregating more insight. Be humble and never stop learning, plus no one likes a know-it-all!