[Mis]application

I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but, as usual, I couldn't clarify my thoughts well enough.  However, just now, I was swinging in a hammock in a penthouse in Copacabana and the ideas started to solidify.  They are not completely solid yet, but here we go anyway:

The difference between knowledge and wisdom is application.  You can know something, but until you apply it, it really doesn't do any good.

For example, mankind has gained tremendous knowledge of natural laws, but is the application of these laws that leads to useful innovations.  An obvious example is electricity.  It's great to study how electricity works, but until you actually do something with it, it doesn't provide any benefit.  What would you rather have?  A book full of formulas like V=IR, or, I don't know, lights in your house?

So application is extremely important.  And really, the example of natural laws is overly simplistic.  Their application is easy.  With electricity, you can easily make a circuit and test it.  If it works, you have successfully applied your knowledge.  It becomes much more difficult when we have to apply some bit of knowledge in our own life.

And herein is the reason I'm writing this post: I have seen a lot of misapplication lately.  More times than I care to count, I have seen people take a bit of advice, an analogy, an illustration, or even a personal experience, and misapply it.  (I don't want to give specific examples, so I apologize if this is overly vague.)

I'm sure they are not doing this on purpose.  In fact, they are to be commended for seeing a useful bit of knowledge and trying to apply it in their life.  But they are missing the mark.

I've spent a lot of time trying to determine why, exactly, they are missing it.  Sometimes it is failure to consider the context.  Sometimes it's oversimplification - or overcomplication - of the situation.  Sometimes it's simply seeing what they want to see.  If there is a single, unifying reason, I have yet to find it.

So I really don't have any conclusions yet.  Since I started noticing this in others, I've really tried to examine my own application to make sure its valid.  I guess that's all I have right now.  I would like to revisit this once I learn more...