One Hundred And Fifty Lessons For Life

Lesson One Hundred Twenty Nine: Place Of Knowledge And Wisdom

Imam Al-Kadhim (a.s.) said:

اِنَّ الزَّرْعَ يَنْبُتُ فِى السَّهْلِ وَ لايَنْبُتُ فِى الصَّفا فَكَذلِكَ الْحِكْمَةُ تَعْمُرُ فِى قَلْبِ الْمُتَواضِعِ وَ لا تَعْمُرُ فى قَلْبِ الْمُتَكَبِّرِ الْجَبّارِ!

Translation

Cultivation grows on soft land, not on the stones! Similarly knowledge and wisdom sprout on the heart of modest people, not on the heart of the unjust arrogant persons![^1]

Brief Description

The first step in acquiring knowledge is humility: humility towards truth, humility towards the teacher and anyone who knows more than us and could teach us something.

For this reason, ignorance and arrogance usually go hand in hand. Arrogant ones never admit their ignorance, and if a reality happens to be different from that which serves their pride and arrogance, they would deny it and oppose it. They do not accept the truth from anyone and remain engulfed in their ignorance.

[^1]: Tuhaful Uqul, page 296. Mustadrak Alwasail, vol 11, page 299.