Francis Bacon famously said, “Knowledge is power”. This may or may not be so. But I think that the attainment of knowledge is a lot more complex than Bacon’s oft quoted sound bite and maybe it needs to be interrogated more fully. I recently read Carlos Castaneda’s, The Teachings of Don Juan – a Yaqui way of knowledge and becoming a ‘person of knowledge’ is no easy task according to the author. In fact most people don’t succeed in gaining true knowledge because we don’t have any idea that when we follow the path of learning how hard it will be. Not only intellectually, mentally, emotionally but in terms of what we may discover. We may prefer ignorance because the path to real knowledge is not an easy one. According to Don Juan, there are four enemies to becoming a person of knowledge: Fear, Clarity, Power, Old Age

1. Volksrust Recorder - Column / Rubrieke10 Recorder 15 May 2015
Jesus gaan weer kom
Joh. 14:3 En as Ek
gegaan en vir julle
plek berei het, kom
Ek weer en sal julle
na My toe neem,
sodat julle ook kan
wees waar Ek is.
Die Here Jesus het
met Sy hemelvaart
belowe dat Hy weer
gaan kom. Meer as
tweeduisend jaar
gelede is die belofte
van die koms van die
Heilige Gees reeds
vervul! Hy het toe al
gesê dat HY weer
gaan kom.
Op. 1:7 Kyk, Hy kom
met die wolke, en
elke oog sal Hom
sien, ook hulle wat
Hom deursteek het;
Sag. 14:4 En in dié
dag sal sy voete
staan op die Olyfberg
wat voor Jerusalem
lê, aan die
oostekant; en die
Olyfberg sal
middeldeur gesplyt
word van oos na wes
tot ‘n baie groot dal;
en die een helfte van
die berg sal wegwyk
na die noorde en die
ander helfte na die
suide. Matt. 24:34-39
Voorwaar Ek sê vir
julle, hierdie geslag
sal sekerlik nie
verbygaan voordat
al hierdie dinge
gebeur het nie. Die
hemel en die aarde
sal verbygaan, maar
my woorde sal nooit
verbygaan nie. Maar
van dié dag en dié
uur weet niemand
nie, ook die engele
van die hemele nie,
maar net my Vader
alleen. En net soos
die dae van Noag
was, so sal ook die
koms van die Seun
van die mens wees.
Want net soos hulle
was in die dae voor
die sondvloed toe
hulle geëet en
gedrink het, getrou
en in die huwelik
uitgegee het, tot op
die dag dat Noag in
die ark gegaan het,
en dit nie verstaan
het voordat die
sondvloed gekom en
almal weggevoer het
nie, so sal ook die
koms van die Seun
van die mens wees.
Met die herdenking
van die hemelvaart
van die Here Jesus
moet ons opnuut
bewus word van
Jesus se naderende
wederkoms. Die
chaos in die wêreld
verkondig vir ons dat
Sy koms dalk nader is
as wat ons besef. Ja,
niemand ken die tyd
van die wederkoms
nie al poog mense om
dit te voorspel. Matt.
24:3 En toe Hy op
die Olyfberg gaan sit
het, kom die dissipels
alleen na Hom en sê:
Vertel ons, wanneer
sal hierdie dinge
wees, en wat is die
teken van u koms en
van die voleinding
van die wêreld? En
Jesus antwoord en sê
vir hulle: Pas op dat
niemand julle mislei
nie. Want baie sal
onder my Naam kom
en sê: Ek is die
Christus! en hulle sal
baie mense mislei. En
julle sal hoor van
oorloë en gerugte
van oorloë. Pas op,
moenie verskrik
word nie, want alles
moet plaasvind, maar
dit is nog nie die
einde nie. Want die
een nasie sal teen die
ander opstaan en die
een koninkryk teen
die ander; en daar
sal hongersnode
wees en pessiektes en
aardbewings op
verskillende plekke.
Lees gerus die res van
Matt. 24 en u sal sien
dat die gebeure in die
wêreld is 'n voorloper
van die wederkoms
van Jesus. Die
herdenking van Jesus
se hemelvaart vra die
vraag: Is u gereed vir
Sy wederkoms? Is u
geestelike lewe in
orde?
Groete in die Naam
van Jesus Christus.
Ds. Jan Keyser
Change
Your
Story
With Jacques de Villiers
Thefourenemiesofknowledge
For further information: Jacques de
Villiers jacques@jacquesdevilliers.com
082 906 3693
Volksrust Seme
Business Column
Are you being passed over for promotion?
Do you wonder why your colleagues are
being given rewards, raises, and credit for
work which you’ve also spent hours on? Do
your managers give you positive feedback at
every performance appraisal, and then seem
to forget you exist again? If this is you, there
could be just one reason for it.
Simply put: you’re invisible.
Here’s how to remedy this little problem:
- Be seen and heard in your department, and
organisation. By actively, positively
demonstrating your enthusiasm for your role
and dedication to the business, you’ll soon
be making a name for yourself.
- Every time you’re part of a successful
project, tell people about it. Whether you
mention it in a weekly meeting, blog about it
on the company site or send an email to your
boss, make sure the right people know that
you’re involved in good work.
- Volunteer to manage projects or head up
task teams. Make yourself known as one who
isn’t afraid of a challenge and is capable of
leading. Don’t be afraid to initiate
improvements or create opportunities for
team building or learning.
- Help new employees to set up and settle in,
and offer yourself as a guide where
appropriate. Make sure it’s not just the top
brass who know your name. Being friendly,
approachable and likeable will get you far.
- Find yourself a mentor. With the help of an
experienced leader, you’ll be able to learn the
best ways to get noticed for the right reasons
within your organisation, and industry.
If you can learn from this advice and keep
your promotion in your sights, you’ll be ready
to step up in no time. Good luck!
Altough this article focusses on the
employee, it is important for employers to
understand that you need to be fair and
consistent in applying promotions in your
business. Sometimes it just happens that
there is no place to promote someone too.
Then it requires some clever intervention and
creativity that you need to apply in the
workplace.
The one reason you haven't
been promoted yet!!
Wakkerstroom Animal Group
This male Jack
Russell type dog
was found in the
main road (Dr
Nelson Mandela
Drive) in the Rooi-
bult area on Friday,
8 May.
He is a small, very
young dog in per-
fectconditionandis
very friendly an lo-
ving.
Contact Janet
083 462 2729 or
Bronwen
084 299 5382
HELP - I AM LOST
Willem Hüsselmann - 082 415 7725
Freddie Kapp - 017 735 4444
Johan Botha - 082 335 7274
Ashraf Moola - 082 588 5515
Ahmed Chotia - 082 554 4886
Francis Bacon famously said, “Knowledge is
power”. This may or may not be so.
But I think that the attainment of knowledge is a
lot more complex than Bacon’s oft quoted sound
bite and maybe it needs to be interrogated more
fully. I recently read Carlos Castaneda’s, The
Teachings of Don Juan – a Yaqui way of
knowledge and becoming a ‘person of knowledge’
is no easy task according to the author.
In fact most people don’t succeed in gaining true
knowledge because we don’t have any idea that
when we follow the path of learning how hard it
will be.
Not only intellectually, mentally, emotionally but
in terms of what we may discover. We may prefer
ignorance because the path to real knowledge is
not an easy one.
According to Don Juan, there are four enemies to
becoming a person of knowledge.
The first is fear! Some people run away from
knowledge believing ignorance is bliss. Some
people don’t want to find knowledge because it
might challenge the very foundation of the beliefs
they currently hold. And, as we know, it is easier
to stick with the status quo, than to delve into the
unkown.
Also, the journey for knowledge is unpredictable.
One never knows what learning will come across
your path and which direction it will take you in.
Knowledge can really mess with your plans and
throw you off kilter. Knowledge can be a real ego
buster too. Because the more you know, the more
you know that you know almost nothing. And
knowing that you know nothing is a humbling
experience.
The rule to overcoming fear is not to stop seeking
knowledge. If you keep striving to become a person
of knowledge, the fear will be defeated and you’ll
have clarity.
And, clarity is the second enemy! The clarity of
mind that is so hard to obtain, dispels fear, but
also blinds. “It forces the man never to doubt
himself. It gives him the assurance he can do
anything he pleases, for he sees clearly into
everything. He is courageous because he is clear,
and he stops at nothing because he is clear,” said
Don Juan. The danger of clarity is that once you
have it, you become certain. And, sometimes that
certainty dulls the need to learn or yearn for any
more knowledge. And, that’s when we stops and
rest on our laurels, so to speak. And, when we
think we know the answer and think that our
answer is the right one, we become arrogant and
ultimately ignorant.
To know that our clarity is subjective and that
our knowledge can be tested and found wanting,
gives us power.
Power, of course, is the third enemy! When we
have knowledge we become powerful. Herein lies
the danger … we command, we take calculated
risks and make rules because we are the ‘master’.
Often we lose ourselves and don’t know how to
properly use this power. We can become arrogant
and capricious. How do we defeat the third
enemy? Don Juan said, “He has to defy it,
deliberately. He has to come to realise the power
he has seemingly conquered is in reality never his.
He must keep himself in line at all times, handling
carefully and faithfully what he has learned.”
And, when we come to the end of our journey of
learning, the fourth enemy sneaks up on us: Old
age! This one we cannot defeat completely, but
only fight away.
I can’t say it better than Don Juan: “This is the
time when a man has no more fears, no more
impatient clarity of mind – a time when all his
power is in check, but also the time when he has
an unyielding desire to rest.”
If we give in to that desire we lose the last round
and the enemy will cut us down into feeble old
creatures.
I suppose it is only when we fight off the tiredness
and live our fate through that we can be called a
‘person of knowledge’, albeit only briefly.
But, I would rather be seeking knowledge with
my dying breathe than live a life of ignorant bliss,
wouldn’t you?