Life is short. We live around 80 years, and even that needs a push of luck and conscious effort. During this limited time, we have to spend 20 years on a trial period where we learn how to walk, talk, read and write. Then we spend a few years learning a skill or specialization in which we have to work for the next 40 years and retire by the age of 60 and chill out till lady death comes.

Everyone’s life follows this general trend with a little bit of variation depending on location and culture. But that sounds dreadful. Leaving aside the whole aspect of being a slave to the matrix, indoctrination and blah blah, it still is so scary to think we have one life with 40 years of actual gameplay where we hope not to make a big mistake, else shit hits the fan.

As humans, we have an innate desire to explore and experience new things. We can’t hope to try everything out there in the world (unless you have a Bitcoin spoon when you are born). We are limited by our social responsibilities, so, even if exploring is the best way for us to grow and develop, we have to choose our adventures carefully.

To explore our curiosities, there are two main pathways-

Knowledge vs Experience Or Books vs Adventure

Some people believe that experiencing something first-hand is the best way to explore. Trying a new hobby, visiting a different country. Unless you actually go on the adventure, you won’t truly experience it.

While some people prefer reading through different experiences. This enables them to learn and explore more. This is why I highly value the power of books. They allow us to live through the eyes of different authors and characters. I love this quote from George R.R. Martin-

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.” 

While we may not be able to experience everything the world has to offer, books offer us the chance to live vicariously through the experiences of others. Diving into different ideologies and philosophies expands our worldview which leads to better opinions. If you want to start a new hobby or learn a new skill, it helps to read other people's experiences. Seeing where others failed and how you can avoid the pitfalls can help boost your progress.

However, books cannot replace personal experience. If you only read about a skill you want to learn instead of practising it, you will never get very far. Until you visit a place or go on a hike yourself, you won’t be able to experience the beauty of the world.

Both paths lack lustre individually. Putting them together creates a longer and wider path — 

The relationship between books and experience is one of complementarity. While books can provide a wealth of information and perspectives, they often lack the depth and richness of personal experience. On the other hand, personal experience can be limited by one’s own perspectives and biases, while books can offer a broader and more diverse range of perspectives. In many cases, the combination of both books and experience can lead to a more well-rounded and complete understanding of the world and oneself.

Let's take a small example — You want to build a raft and you have no experience with building or working with wood before. Let's go each path individually — 

Adventure-> You dive straight in. Decide to get the wood and the tools and start building and figuring things out. But which wood do you need? Which tools do you need? Even if you figure this out, what’s the best way to build a raft? How can you be efficient about it? It is like trying to reinvent the wheel where you have to try different things to see what works and what doesn’t.

Knowledge-> You get a raft-building manual. It tells you what wood is the best and what tools you need. There are different types of rafts and it tells you what is best for your needs. Isn’t that neat? But after reading you try to build a raft, and then you realize how difficult it is to cut the wood or how annoying splinters can be. You never really worked with wood before. You underestimated the strength it requires you to go through the build.

In both cases, you can build the raft eventually. If you had to build that raft to escape an island before it explodes, you wouldn’t have the time to try different things out. And you wouldn’t be able to build without having the experience of working with wood.

Only when you bring knowledge and experience together, books and adventure together, are you able to grow the most. You learn the best way to build the raft and you learn how to work with wood. One or the other would only lead to a lack lustre raft and you don’t want to drown.

So… read more and experience more. Go for a hike and read about philosophy. Go to the gym but also read about fitness. That’s the best combo for life.