What are the Differences

Between Knowledge, Wisdom,

and Insight?
Last updated on October 21, 2020

As a human being, knowledge, wisdom, and insight are pretty

beautiful qualities to possess to live a great life.

Surely you are familiar with these words as you must have heard
them over a million times when you listen to people speak or in the
books you’ve read.

But being familiar with something doesn’t necessarily mean you

know what it is.

So what comes to your mind exactly when you hear someone say
“knowledge is power”? Or let’s say you wake up one morning, you
are going through your social media feed, and you come across a
post telling you how you need to master the “art of wisdom” to grow
old well. Do you really know what they are talking about?

So what do you do? Do you shunt them all together as the same
words? Or you at least think they are different, but you can’t explain
exactly how?

These words are indeed connected in some ways, but they are not at
all synonymous with each other. You can’t use them interchangeably.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, knowledge is defined

as”the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained
through experience or association.
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 Wisdom is “a wise attitude, belief, or course of action.” While
insight is “the power or act of seeing into a situation” or “the act
or result of apprehending the inner nature of things or of seeing
intuitively.”

Before we delve into what differentiates knowledge, wisdom, and

insight, perhaps a deeper understanding of each term would help
you start looking at each term uniquely and differently from one
another. And that’s what I will be sharing with you right now

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is “facts, information, and skills acquired through
experience or education” or “awareness or familiarity gained by
experience of a fact or situation.”

Knowledge can either be practical or theoretical. You acquire

practical knowledge by doing, and you acquire theoretical
knowledge by just learning about something.

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HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE KNOWLEDGE?

WHERE DOES KNOWLEDGE COME FROM?
There are five major ways in which you can acquire knowledge.

1. Perception: perception has to do with the senses. It has to do with

the things you experience by seeing and hearing. Perception and
experience go hand in hand. How? Experience is the most basic
source of knowledge. And perception is experiencing things first
hand with your senses. There is a view that supports experience as
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 being the primary source of knowledge, and it is called empiricism.
So if you support this view, you are called an empiricist.

2. Reason: Reason is a thing of the mind. Reason is the ability of

your mind to think, understand, and then be able to form a logical
judgment. There are two ways you can acquire knowledge by reason.
One is by making a judgment based on existing knowledge, while the
other is a priori. A priori knowledge is not dependent on experience
to arrive at truths. Rather, it is based on pure reason. For instance, in
mathematics, 2+2=4. You don’t need any kind of experience to arrive
at this kind of judgment. It is totally based on reasoning. “A girl is a
female” is another example of a priori knowledge. If you support the
view that people acquire knowledge basically through reason, then
you are a rationalist. And the view is called rationalism.

3. Introspection: Introspection is a form of perception. Introspection

is an individual thing. There are some things no one else can know
about you except you. Introspection is the knowledge you get about
yourself when you evaluate yourself. For instance, you know you are
tired, or you know you need to use the toilet. Simply put,
introspection is the first-hand knowledge of yourself when you study
yourself.

4. Memory: When you experience or learn things, they are stored in

your mind. Your memory helps you to receive knowledge, make
sense of it, retain it, and retrieve it whenever you need it. Your
memory is your primary source of knowledge since it helps you
receive and retain knowledge. However, it is not the primary source
of acquiring knowledge because sometimes the memory fails, and
that’s when you go to alternative sources such as the internet,
books, or people.
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 Figure 1: How human memory works. Image source: Weebly

5. Testimony: If you would take your time to reflect on it this

moment, you would probably realize that almost everything you
know is learned from the testimony of people around you. While
growing up, your parents told you a lot of things. Your teachers at
school taught you a lot of things. You listen to the news and read
books. You didn’t experience most of the things you know first-hand,
people taught you. So a lot of the knowledge you have gained and
will gain were and will be by testimony.

PERSPECTIVES ON KNOWLEDGE
Different groups of people see knowledge differently.

If you are a scientist, knowledge means a different thing to you.

And if you are a religious person, maybe a Christian, you will see
knowledge differently. Scientists use what is called the scientific
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 method to acquire knowledge about our physical world.

In Christianity, people see knowledge as divine, gotten from God,

one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Muslims say knowledge is
from God. The Jews say knowledge is the most important thing you
can acquire. Philosophers say knowledge is partial because it’s
inexhaustible.

Intentionally or unintentionally, you are gaining knowledge every

second, every minute, every day. It’s a continuous thing. It is how you
apply or use the knowledge that you’ve gained that you start to
develop wisdom or not.

WISDOM
Wisdom has a wide range of definitions. Like knowledge, it means
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 different things to different groups of people.

A very well known definition of wisdom is the one by Charles Haddon

Spurgeon. He defined wisdom as “the right use knowledge.”

There is no wisdom without knowledge, but you can have knowledge

and still not qualify to be described as a wise person. From
Spurgeon’s definition, you can see that knowledge comes first
before wisdom. And it is not wisdom yet if you haven’t used or
applied knowledge the right way.

It’s not everything you know that is beneficial to you. Some

knowledge is good, and some others are harmful. So the ability to
discern which is right and what is wrong and then act on what is right
is wisdom. It is the ability to discern knowledge that applies to your
life situation and the one that is not.

Although we are told that wisdom means rightfully applying or using

knowledge. To apply or use it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to
always act. You see, wisdom sounds like a complicated thing when,
in fact, it isn’t. As humans, we always try to complicate things
sometimes.

Wisdom is as simple as knowing there is a vehicle speeding in your

direction and waiting for it to pass before crossing to the other side
of the road.

Sometimes, wisdom isn’t rushing into actions just because you think
you know what it is that you are supposed to do. It is also wise if you
can relax, wait, observe, pause before taking a step of action.

Wisdom is not an innate thing. Nobody has it. But through

experience, you can acquire more wisdom and become wiser.
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 So wisdom isn’t something you possess, like owning a personal
belonging. You weren’t born with it, and it isn’t passed down to you
through family genes. Wisdom is a verb. You do wisdom. You cannot
obtain wisdom like you obtain a goal, just like knowledge, it is a
continuous thing. So when you act on knowledge, you become wiser.

HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE WISDOM?

If you are the kind of person who likes to learn and discover new
things, and you like to reflect on the process, then you can gain
wisdom.

An open-minded person who is not afraid to learn new things and

step out of their comfort zone will easily gain wisdom.

If you learn to look up to wise people if you’re not afraid to ask them
questions, that itself is an act of wisdom.

Some characters, when you display them, can project an image of

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 you to others that tells them you are a wise person. If you practice
humility, if you think before acting, if you are capable of learning from
your mistakes, these are ways you grow in wisdom.

You acquire wisdom and increase in it, the more you know, and the
more you can use what you know rightfully. It’s as simple as that.

PERSPECTIVES ON WISDOM
It’s a normal thing for you to view things differently from another
person. It doesn’t in any way mean you are wrong or right. Neither
does it mean they are wrong or right. There are different
perspectives on wisdom.

There is the mythological and philosophical perspective, the

educational perspective, the psychological perspective, and the
religious perspective. Despite all these varying perspectives, though,
they all have something in common; wisdom is rightfully using
knowledge.
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 INSIGHT
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 Has there ever been a moment in your life when you just know
something? Have you ever just known the solution to a problem or
gotten an answer to a difficult question?

Those are moments of insight. It is like a lightbulb suddenly coming

on inside of your head—a eureka moment.

Insight is coming to an understanding of something without anyone

having to explain it to you. It is a deep form of knowledge.

By definition, insight is the ability “to gain an accurate and deep

understanding of someone or something.” Insight is a deep and
accurate perception of a situation or a problem. It is seeing better.
It’s intuition.

Insight is knowledge but not the kind that you get by learning or
experiencing things.

This kind of knowledge is sudden, opening your mind to an

understanding of things you had no idea about just a moment ago.
It’s like a sixth sense.

Insight can be developed, just like you can add to your knowledge or
increase in wisdom. You can also grow in insight. For instance, you
can’t compare a doctor who has been in the profession for 30 years
with another doctor who is just finishing his or her internship.

The latter could look at a patient and be able to tell you right away
what the problem is without running tests and check-ups. But a
doctor fresh out of internship might not be able to do that.

Why?

The years spent in his profession have built that ability in him to be
able to attune to all sorts of situations.
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 Sometimes, your mother would look at your crying baby, and
instantly they would know why your baby is crying. A skill like that is
developed through experience. So you can develop insight through
experience and consistency.

Where there is insight, you’ll find a lot of knowledge and wisdom.

You develop insight by acquiring knowledge and turning it into
wisdom by rightly making use of that knowledge, then using this
wisdom consistently to achieve insight.

You can experience insight all of a sudden. It’s that moment when
you feel a lightbulb suddenly coming on in your head. And you can
develop insight, by experience, and consistent use of wisdom.

THE KEY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN

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 KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, AND INSIGHT
Knowledge is information and facts you gather through
experience and education. Wisdom is when you rightfully apply
or use knowledge. While insight is your ability to be so in-tune
with something or someone that you can easily know deep and
accurate things about them.
Knowledge is power. Wisdom is deciding to use that power.
Insight is developed when you consistently make use of
wisdom.
To gain knowledge, you have to read, listen, see, experience,
and get familiar with certain things. To gain wisdom, you first
need to have the knowledge and then use the knowledge to
arrive at a sound judgment and course of action. To gain
insight, you need to have both knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge helps you become smarter and more intelligent.
Wisdom helps you choose to apply your smartness and
intelligence. While insight helps you develop into a more
confident
Knowledge is a surface thing. It’s just a couple of facts that you
keep in your memory. It is not a profound thing. Wisdom is what
you experience as a result of the knowledge you’ve gained.
While insight goes much deeper than that, it resides deep in
you. When the lightbulb goes on in your head, you don’t have to
calculate before acting on it.
Anyone can acquire Anyone can become a walking
encyclopedia of knowledge, and that would be just about it. But
not everyone can acquire wisdom by choosing to do what is
right with knowledge. Then even fewer people can be described
as being insightful. A person can be wise and still miss out on
that deep and intuitive way of understanding situations and
people.
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 KNOWLEDGE, WISDOM, AND INSIGHT IN
DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF HUMAN LIFE
There are many aspects to your life as a human being. The physical,
mental, emotional, social, work, and spiritual aspects. To balance
these different aspects of your life and succeed in each, which do
you think is more important? Knowledge? Wisdom? Or Insight?

The truth is you can’t rely on just one to succeed at these different
aspects of your life.

You have to make these three concepts work together so you can
attain the kind of life you want.

Do you want to live a more healthy life? Do you want to be able to

create and sustain good relationships with people? Do you want to
be strong mentally? Are you thinking about switching careers or
managing two careers at once? Or are you planning to leave the
corporate world and start your own business? Are you striving to get
to the top and become a reckoning force in the corporate world?

Whatever it is, you need the combination of knowledge, wisdom, and

insight to make it all work.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO FURTHER EXPLAIN THE

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE,
WISDOM, AND INSIGHT
1. Knowledge: you know that there is a problem, and you know
several numbers of ways that this problem can be solved.

Wisdom: you can decide the best way to solve the problem out of all
the options that you have.
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 Insight: you have a more in-depth and better understanding of how
either the problem or the solution would affect things. You are aware
of whether to go ahead with this solution or not.

2. Knowledge: You are not happy. So you consult books that teach
about how to find happiness. Now you know how to make yourself
happy, and you have an intellectual understanding of happiness. But
you still are not happy.

Wisdom: In one of the books you read, you remember that they said
you could find happiness by doing what you love. You do a couple of
these things, like traveling or singing or whatever, and it does make
you happy.

Insight: You are doing one of the things you love one Saturday
evening, and something a switch just flips in you. You suddenly
realize that happiness is not an outward thing, after all. You realize
that people aren’t responsible for making you happy. More money,
isn’t it. It’s all you. And then your life becomes even better. You are
now more confident about life due to what you just realized.

3. Knowledge: It seems there is going to be a war. Several options

are laid out before you. Which is going to kill the enemy faster? Do
you use guns, missiles, or nuclear bombs?

Wisdom: You weigh the options before you. You probably choose
the nuclear bombs because its impact is going to be greater than the
impact a gun would make—you devise the best strategies to win this
war.

Insight: This war would lead to a lot of destruction. Innocent people

are going to die. Children will become homeless and orphans. Do we
really want to go to war? There is another way to solve this.
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 CONCLUSION
Knowledge, wisdom, and insight do not at all mean the same thing.

But you’ll find that if you want to develop into your full potential in all
aspects of life, the accumulation of knowledge alone won’t do.

Your ability to use knowledge the right way would put you on that
path.

Then insight develops when you consistently make use of knowledge

and wisdom.
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