The line "The farther one travels the less one knows" .... wat does it actually mean?

See here, the farther you travel you know quite alot but you might not understand it but you do know it.

Understanding and knowledge are not quite the same, are they? I mean, one can say that they know 2+2=4 but they dont understand why. They have the knowledge but not the understanding.

Watcha think?

Lets get all philosophical and put our thinking caps on.

The Inner Light has always been a favorite of mine
The line The farther you travel the less one knows , i think George is saying it in a spirital sense more than as
in a journey to another country .
I think he is saying the more you think about religion more it gets complicated and you become weighed down
in the spirital journey in life and you forget what your journey was about in the first place .]
Keep it simple on the journey , Love . thats all you need to know

As you can tell i have thought about that line for many years and this is what i come up with everytime .
Even before Georges death i allways had these thoughts on it and when he was asked about what he
would like to think his last words would be he said

All You Need Is Love .
He wasnt wrong .

From my own experience as a researcher, the more I learn the more I realize how much I do not know. I think that is what George means. His lyrics are always so meaningful. I love George.

I see what you both say. And I agree , the deeper you go the more complicated the less you undestand. Less you understand not know.

mr kite wrote:Keep it simple on the journey , Love . thats all you need to know

But see here, kitie, throught the journey one will keep it simple. Why? because they were told to do so and they know they need to do so. But as the road goes on and on they will always know that but will they understand less or more of it?

elo_chick wrote: From my own experience as a researcher, the more I learn the more I realize how much I do not know. I think that is what George means.

I suppose it is. But there are times where you learn something you get a better understanding of it. You might have known it before but havent understood it, you went deeper and got it. And then, if you research something and you realize "ooh, i never knew that" thats increasing both knowledge and understanding but if you know something and you keep researching it, the farther you travel the more you'll know. Wouldnt you say?

mr kite wrote:I think he is saying the more you think about religion more it gets complicated and you become weighed down
in the spirital journey in life and you forget what your journey was about in the first place .

Of course its a spiritual thing. But what, is he saying "dont try to understand why you are believing in your religion, why you are praying to whoever, why you are honouring such-and-such and dont try to understand the meaning because once you start knowing and understanding the less you will know"?

elo_chick wrote:His lyrics are always so meaningful.

That's more Te Tao Ching's lyrics, isnt it?

Honey_Tree wrote:

elo_chick wrote: From my own experience as a researcher, the more I learn the more I realize how much I do not know. I think that is what George means.

I suppose it is. But there are times where you learn something you get a better understanding of it. You might have known it before but havent understood it, you went deeper and got it. And then, if you research something and you realize "ooh, i never knew that" thats increasing both knowledge and understanding but if you know something and you keep researching it, the farther you travel the more you'll know. Wouldnt you say?

What I was trying to say is that you will never know everything there is to know about any subject, and the more you research it (travel into the depths of it) and find the tons of books and articles that have been written on the topic, the more you will discover that you know less than you thought you did. Besides that, the moment that a book or article is published, much of the material is obsolete and you have to start all over. Does that make sense? I don't find anything religious in it at all.

elo_chick wrote:What I was trying to say is that you will never know everything there is to know about any subject, and the more you research it (travel into the depths of it) and find the tons of books and articles that have been written on the topic, the more you will discover that you know less than you thought you did.

Yes I agree. But the fact that you realize that you knew less than you thought, will make you go deeper and increase the knowledge and understanding. So the further you go the more you know...?

elo_chick wrote: I don't find anything religious in it at all.

The religious part of it is The Inner Light I think. But then one asks themselves what is the inner light? is it your soul?

I agree with both of you (Honey and elo_chick): the more you reasearch a subject, the more you know about it, but the more you also know how much you don't know about it, how much there's yet to find out.
So after researching/travelling, you become aware of what you don't know - before, ou just didn't know that you didn't know it, if that makes sense.

But these are really good lines, my favourite bit of that song! good topic Honey

^ Call me stubborn, but I still think its more to do with understanding.

Octie wrote: "before, you just didnt know the you didn't know"

] But at that "before" you werent really thinking about what you dont know (because you didnt know it) and as you further travel and research you expand your knowledge and understanding.

Octie wrote: the more you reasearch a subject, the more you know about it, but the more you also know how much you don't know about it, how much there's yet to find out.

Or, "... the more you know it, but the more you also know how much you didn't" know", but now you do. So I stil say that the further one travels the more one knows