The Misunderstanding of Knowledge

For most of people, knowlege is simply information memoried, but it seems too... restrictive in a sense. I havehad several discussions recently on what knowledge actually is, though not in so many words. It seems to me that it is closer to a quick analysis of facts, the use of deductive reasoning, and the methodical indexing of references and inferences, I find myself saying that the key to knowing things is to not adhere to a particular dogma, or concept, but to be open to most, and, through careful analysis of the subject matter, using deductive reasoning, coming to the most likely conclusion. Isn't it what we do on a daily basis? As we cross the road, performing complex math, while, not completely accurate, judging the speed of approaching cars, estimating the distance, and comparing it to our own speed, and the distance needed to travel? We make those decisions, and calculations in a fraction of a second, we do not overcomplicate it, though, we imply do it, with no more of a stressor than our own survival. 

This may just be the ramblings of my brain at 4 in the morning, as I am lying awake, thinking of a better way to understand who we are, and what we are doing. I have come to the conclusion that who we are is who we are making ourselves to be, nothing more. As to what we are doing, well, isn't that the biggest question of all? We are discovering ourselves, for all of us, discovering the facets of who we are, each passing year, each passing day, getting deeper in the discovery of our true self, adding layers of complexity, and removing others. Our goal in life is merely to survive, experience the world, and ourselves, and pass as much of that knowledge to the next generation, who will achieve more, know more, clutter their brains less with raw data, and acquire a means to process data, not as raw memorized items, but as an understanding of how, and what it came to be.

Knowledge is simple, we can know everything there is to know by simply understanding the world around us, and how to get this information. That is why education is important, it is a means for us to understand how the world around us functions, it is not meant, as most people will try to get by, as a raw parrotting of meaningless data, cluttering our brains with information which does not allow us to analyze, but rather to mindlessly follow someone. Knowledge, friends, is simply understanding, and analying, the ability to process information without actually having to memorize all of it, simply memorizing the means to get to the conclusion itself.