The Infinite Reservoir of Knowledge
Unlocking your four pillars of knowledge acquisition
A Childhood of Knowledge and Curiosity
Warren Buffett is arguably the most renowned investor of our time. His journey toward greatness began in his childhood in Omaha, Nebraska, where his fascination with business and finance took root. As a young boy, Buffett immersed himself in books about investing and entrepreneurship, laying the groundwork for his later success. His entrepreneurial spirit emerged early, selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola, and magazines door-to-door with remarkable zeal. By the age of 11, he made his first stock purchase, showcasing a remarkable ability to understand the complexities of the stock market.
Buffett's insatiable curiosity and love of learning were the driving forces behind his growth. These traits not only set him apart but also fueled his unparalleled success in the investment world via knowledge acquisition. History has demonstrated time and again that knowledge acquisition is the cornerstone of personal growth and success. Whether it's Warren Buffett’s mastery of investing or the achievements of countless other trailblazers, the hunger for learning remains a universal trait of extraordinary individuals.
This raises a broader question: how do we acquire knowledge, and why is it so crucial to start early in life?
Have you ever considered how you learned to walk, speak, ride a cycle, drive a car, brush your teeth, obtain a university degree, sweep the floors, open your eyes, eat food, read - the list is never ending with various ways we acquire knowledge from that day our soul enters our mother’s womb.
Research from Harvard’s Center on the Developing Child states that 90% of a child's brain develops by the age of five, with neural connections forming at their fastest rate. It’s during this period that children absorb language, making it a peak phase for acquiring skills and knowledge. Buffett cultivated his knowledge during his formative years, this period is when children absorb language, develop problem-solving abilities, and lay the foundation for future success.
“The more you learn, the more you earn” - Warren Buffett
The Four Ways We Acquire Knowledge
Learning doesn’t end with childhood. It’s a lifelong journey, evolving through every stage of life. By understanding the mechanisms through which we gain knowledge, we can become more effective learners. These mechanisms fall into four key channels that shape our understanding and growth:
Subconscious Mind
From an early age, our experiences, thoughts and habits shape the foundation of our subconscious mind—a powerful reservoir akin to a dam filled with water. The subconscious mind processes and stores everything we experience, enabling us to complete habitual activities like walking, eating, or brushing our teeth without active awareness. This reservoir quietly powers our daily functions and routines without us being aware - known as the implicit memory.
Conscious Mind
As we grow, we are always engaging the conscious mind—the part of the brain that discriminates and is responsible of active decision-making and deliberate learning. The conscious mind or the intellect acts as the gatekeeper of knowledge, filtering what is relevant and deciding whether information is worth retaining. The conscious mind generally operates at the prefrontal cortex helping us analyze, process, and store important information while ignoring distractions. Like streams of water feeding into a dam—Nature’s Storehouse, the conscious mind decides whether to allow new knowledge to flow into our reservoir, shaping the thoughts and ideas that will guide our future.
Nature’s Storehouse
Beyond our internal mental processing, majority of knowledge we acquire is from external sources—our environment, experiences, interactions with others and the extent of our own observable universe. The storehouse is anything that we consciously learn from through observation, imitation, and interaction— where all knowledge is transferred from a teacher to the student. In this sense, the teacher can be anything in the material world—a person, a tree, animals, the cosmos, or even atoms. When we receive this external knowledge, our internal conscious mind is built to replicate those behaviors, allowing us to learn and adapt. The storehouse represents the vast body of water outside our dam, which our conscious mind—the gatekeeper—decides whether to let in.
Infinite Intelligence
Infinite intelligence represents the highest level of inner power—the essence of the greater soul—accessible through self-reflection and deep meditation. It is the source of all creativity, imagination, self-awareness, and higher cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, strategic thinking, and envisioning the big picture. At this stage, survival concerns like food, water, and shelter fade into the background, and the pursuit of significance is replaced by self-realization as the primary focus. This deeper realm of thought transcends external sources of knowledge, offering insights and understanding directly from the infinite within.
Knowledge enlightens the unknown to known
“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.” – Benjamin Franklin
MinDvesting Summary
These four ways of acquiring knowledge are profoundly interconnected, forming the bedrock of our intellectual and personal growth. The conscious mind, often described as the gatekeeper of our awareness, plays a pivotal role in filtering and nurturing the growth of knowledge within the subconscious mind. However, the very consciousness that enables our learning can also become a formidable barrier. In early childhood, the conscious mind operates with openness, allowing knowledge to flow freely like water through an unblocked dam. But as we grow older, this flow often encounters obstacles—negative influences such as anger, greed, fear, and ego. These lower levels of consciousness cloud the mind, obstructing access to the abundant resources of Nature's Storehouse and the limitless wisdom of Infinite Intelligence.
The reservoir of knowledge within Nature’s Storehouse will always surpass the collective conscious and subconscious knowledge of an individual. It offers us a wealth of learning opportunities, from the smallest lessons taught by nature to the grand ideas conveyed by human interaction and innovation. While the knowledge within the nature’s storehouse is greater than an individual’s consciousness, it remains finite, the knowledge accessible through Infinite Intelligence is infinite.
True wisdom lies in acknowledging this—recognizing that, in the grand scheme, we truly "know nothing."
The keys to this gatekeeper lie solely within your mind. The conscious mind is both a discriminator, gatekeeper and a servant, shaped by your will and intention. By unlocking its potential through self-awareness and deliberate action, you allow the reservoir of true knowledge to flood in. This knowledge serves as a beacon, guiding you toward your dreams and aspirations, lifting you beyond limitations. Knowledge becomes empowering only when channeled into purposeful endeavors, forging a bridge between what is known and what can be achieved.
Knowledge, by itself, is potential. Only through intentional action can it become transformation.