If you are trying to become more "sophisticated", I definitely wouldn't be reading threads here in the hangout.
Agreed. I would also add the following to your list: The Jewish Torah The New Testament The Kitab-i-Aqdas of Bahá’u’lláh The Hindu Vedas The Avestas of Zarathustra The Adi-Granth of the Sikhs The Mahabarata’s Bhagavad-Gita The Urantia book
Here the ways of men divide. If you wish to strive for peace of soul and happiness, then believe; if you wish to be a disciple of truth, then inquire - Nietzsche.
I'm going to repeat the advice that has been given several times: Go to school. Whatever subject you're interested in, enroll in those classes. Start with the survey classes. If a historical/scientific/religious/political book is interesting, it's usually too narrow to give you a broad enough understanding to know a subject. Understand that college is great for breadth of knowledge, but is only mediocre for depth of knowledge. Once you have the breadth of knowledge, you can gain the depth of knowledge in what really interests you through reading and research.
You don't need to go to school to gain knowledge. It is all out there for free. Some of the biggest idiots I know at one time attended Harvard, Yale and other Ivy Leagues.
It is but politics isn't inherently evil and there is a lot of knowledge that can be gained by following political arguments.
Never watch day time television. Listen to a boy band CD. I recommend Soul Decision. Pick up some go to dance moves by acting as black as you can. Date girls from different cultures. Understand the power of a woman's intuition. Define your moral compass, and cross it. Disagree with people on the internet because it is only through debate and questioning can we understand what is right and what is wrong to us. Turn off your filter when around lakehouse doctors. They will love you for it. Stop overindulgence. Less p*rn, less junk food, less super sizing, less being an American. Focus on what you want but never develop tunnel vision. Laugh at atheists who are closet homosexuals. Many of them post on this site. This is the true path to enlightenment.
Agreed, sort of. The best surveys of knowledge come in textbooks, though, and it's better to know about a little bit generally about the breadth of a subject before you start "specializing". Reading textbooks will get you there, but that's worse than going to class.
Yep. A lot to be learned in the battles of logic by following the arguments and seeing where the fallacies lie. Here's my hacks for knowledge and what I try to live my life by: 1) Learn math. A lot of people hate math at a young age and deprive themselves of a vast amount of knowledge that can be gained with a solid foundation in mathematical/logical thinking. I was one of these people. Could not stand math and shot myself in the foot throughout my school years. Now with the help of KhanAcademy.org , I've not only rebuilt my foundations in math but I've also begun to enjoy it. 2) Read. Anything. Everything. You'll increase your vocabulary, your understanding, your perspective and your memory. I like reading autobiographies, history and social/cultural issue centered books. 3) Debate. Argue. Only by challenging yourself in a battle of wits can you find where your deficiencies in knowledge lie. Then you work to fill these holes in, strengthen your arguments, learn new arguments and prepare yourself for another battle. It's similar to to taking a blunt pencil and jamming it into a manual pencil sharpener. You'll have to continue to grind out against sharper blades until your points become just as sharp and refined. 4) Prepare. Before you take action, stop and visualize the outcome and any possible outlying outcomes. Try to plan ahead for the unseen. Too often we jump into things without stepping back and looking at it from 360 degrees. This results in us being often cornered into our positions with no room for escape. If you plan ahead, prepare yourself for any and all possible outcomes, you will have no regrets. 5) Reflect. Take time out to comprehend your actions, reactions and distractions. See what you did, what happened when you did what you did, what other facts influenced the outcome and what you could've done different. Often we don't reflect on our actions and continue pushing forward, depriving ourselves of learning from our experience. The best education is one that is had by experience. Stop. Step back. Review. Replay. Understand. Plan. Play. Execute. 6) Try to learn a new language or a new instrument. Your mind will expand. Your motor skills will become better. Your brain will function at a more optimized pace, as it will build new connections between different elements, allowing quicker and shorter pathways to access knowledge. 7) Learn as much as you can about those that came before us. The world's religions. The world's cultures. It will give you perspective. Guidance. It will give you additional sources of experience to learn from and apply in your daily life. It will give you a true historical model of what has and has not worked to guide people toward success. Good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, all can be learned by looking back before you look forward. 8) Live life in moderation. Let your thirst for knowledge never encompass you to the point where you forget those around you. Overindulgence is a line easily crossed. Plan ahead to stop yourself before you go over the bridge. Moderation leads to happiness and satisfaction while overindulgence leads to constant wanting, distraction from true needs and unhappiness due to never having enough. 9) Always question. There is no 100% truth in this world. Every advancement that has come before us has come through a series of questions, critical analysis and hypothesis. If you wish to advance yourself, you must question everything and only commit to things which you have reasonably understood and appreciated. Your mind should be like a ship in the sea of knowledge, always anxious to make new discoveries hidden beneath the seas surface but routinely anchored as to not lose its place in a storm. 10) Turn off the TV unless it's comedy. It's good to get a laugh.
"Hey now, better make a decision Be a moron and keep your position You gotta know now all your education won't help you know how you're gonna Wind up working in a gas station Pumping the gas every night" FZ
