Is there anything like too much learning?

 

Everybody should be learning something, anything. Everything!

Right?

I do think so… and yet, I wonder…

Let’s take someone with a very high level of education who ends up driving a taxi. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a taxi driver or having any honest profession. But what if that person’s dream was different and all those years of study never became useful for what they really wanted to do?

Or think about someone who becomes so highly educated that people around them eventually stop listening. Nobody wants to hear the latest discoveries in Chemistry or Math at every social gathering! The list of situations like this could be very long.

For me, the important question is not how much we learn, but how that learning contributes to life.

Many theories are fascinating. In today’s world, some theories can even become more powerful than reality! But a theory only becomes truly meaningful when there is some possibility of putting it into practice.

So, what is the benefit of learning something we are never going to use?

Of course, learning Japanese can be super interesting. Learning quantum physics, ancient history or how to play the piano can enrich our minds. And sometimes, learning has value simply because it expands who we are.

But perhaps there is also a point in which learning becomes accumulation rather than development.

Maybe real learning is not about knowing more and more. Probably it is about allowing what we know to make a difference in our actions, how we relate to others, how we understand life and, ultimately, how we live it.