150) What is the value of Insight?

It enables us to understand the value of making application of the knowledge which we gain. Many seem to think that knowledge will automatically apply itself, which is by no means true.

Insight is "Seeing in" (in-sight). It is what happens when you fully understand something; you can see into it. The value of such understanding is that it becomes knowledge which you can apply to achieve an objective. When you apply that knowledge, it gains value.

Do you know how to drive a car or ride a bicycle? If you do, you had to teach yourself what happens when you manipulate the controls of the machine. By doing so, you gain insight into the process of operating that machine.

By driving the car or riding the bike, you apply that knowledge; the knowledge (or insight) then has value. But what if you never ride a bike or drive a car? How much would that knowledge be worth if you never used it to get to where you want to go?

Insight is what motivates you to apply the knowledge you have gained. One can read instructional books all year and do nothing with the knowledge he or she has gained. But when insight comes, it's like the "Aha!" or "Eureka!" moment when you realize what you can do with that knowledge in your own life and circumstances.

Borrowing from the example Vesuvius used, if someone has learned all about driving a car but has not started using that knowledge, perhaps they come to a day when they have this insight: "Aha! If I start driving the car myself, I won't have to rely on my brother to take me to my appointments. I won't have to adjust my schedule to his schedule. I can be independent, going where I want, when I want." The insight has shown you the value of taking that knowledge and applying it in your actual life and circumstances. Making the decision to actually start driving, because of those insights, is how you are "making application of the knowledge [you] gain."

The value of the insight is that you now understand the value of applying your knowledge in your actual circumstances. The knowledge alone will not make you pick up the keys and drive the car until the insight of what it can do for you moves you to take action.

It means that you can read all day long everyday and nothing in your life will change. One must go further and apply the knowledge if change is desired.