Daily Writing Prompt: Expert

Knowledge can only take one so far. To be knowledgeable about a certain subject will give you the title of expert. I have been told that I like to argue and should submit to authority and respect their expertise. I ask too many questions, looking for a better way or a better explanation. I threaten their title of “expert”; or do I do this because I am threatened by their “expertise”?

As my life evolves I find myself searching for experience instead of researching for knowledge. I have found the lessons are in every situation – in every moment, if I am open to it. The simple act of sitting down and writing about the word expert, has taught me a lesson on how I relate with some people. I now realize I am fighting a war that is not worth winning.

I do not want to be an expert. I want to approach life with a hunger for experiences and to be on the look out for the lessons that will make me aware of how precious life is. I want to share these experiences and I want to hear about other’s experiences. As we share each other’s stories we gain insight from the listening as well as in the telling – to be both student and teacher. If I could discipline myself to approach each relationship this way – I would not only gain wisdom, but friendship.

The need to be the expert gets in the way of this kind of lifestyle. If one needs to be an expert then someone else must be the inferior. If one is an expert, what else is there to learn? I want my life to be a never-ending lesson and experiences that will fill me with wonder and excitement. I will ask many questions and I will try and fail at many things and at times I will look foolish – but it is a price I am willing to pay – it is probably the cure to my need for perfection.

Already a burden seems to have been lifted. I have nothing to prove.

I am learning how to live – if I become an expert, the learning stops.