Which is more important, knowledge or understanding?

Answer 1

If you have knowledge you can understand better

Answer 2

Both are connected and help each other like a loop system.
Knowledge results increase in understanding and the understanding helps to digest more knowledge.
Actually we are dipped into the ocean of knowledge but how much we increase capability to grasp knowledge, it gets converted into our understanding.

Knowledge has lot of similarities with our food.
Like we cannot eat everything all the time, whatever we want. In the same way the knowledge, we cannot increase it all the time how much, what soever we want.
Not all the foods are good for us so same is the knowledge.
Not every food we can digest, like food poisoning there is also knowledge dysentery decease as well. When some one is unable to hold an info or a secret within him.
There are certain appetisers to enhance our hunger of food so in the same way, there are certain ways to get grasped more knowledge and get its nutrients to build our wisdom and understanding.
Knowledge without understanding, takes refuge of faith, the transitional stage of our knowledge getting converted into understanding.

Answer 3

Although both might be considered as equally dependant and perhaps dependant on each other if you want to be a genius (I mean, if you want to be reeeeeeal clever, you have to have both, but im talking Einstein), I think that if you have understanding, your life would be a hll of a lot better-in terms of satisfaction. For example, if somebody told you a secret about a person that they liked, but you didn't know, it will mean nothing to you. But if they tell you something less important, but about something that you understand, you can relate to that and actually build more of a friendship. Ok i kind of drifted off the point there i think but um....basically i think that understanding and a little knowledge is better than all the knowledge in the world, but very little understanding..

Answer 4

There is a reason why nearly everyone has stated that "Understanding" is, and will remain, more significant than "Knowledge." Both seem so parallel, but taken under context, they are indeed vastly dissimilar. The reason for their answering "understanding" is simple. Knowledge is, and will always be, limited. As of now (and, in fact, as of the beginning of whatever spawned Time itself), we WILL NEVER learn all there is to know, because fact is happening in every single moment at every single point of space. There can only be One whose knowledge is so infinite, and there is no place for such an existence in just basic "knowledge." It is knowledge nowadays which says that He does not exist, or that information we have processed has lead us to the conclusion that His existence is infinitely improbable.

I came here not to preach religion.

The truth is that knowledge is as we perceive it, not what it truly is. In fact, it can be stated that neither "Understanding" nor "Knowledge" are the correct terms for what we must learn. "Truth."

If we continue to attempt understanding, we shall become lost. If knowledge is the path we choose, we shall evermore travel a neverending road. Truth is what we seek, but until someone passes on to us the "truth", we shall be perpetually ignorant.

Answer 5

They are equally important, though it's probably almost impossible to strike a true balance. Without understanding, knowledge can cause more harm than good (knowing how to build a fire without understanding that it can easily spread and burn down the woods around you, for example). Without knowledge, understanding alone can lead to inaction and lack of progress. While I'm not a Buddhist, I like the metaphor of wisdom and compassion (substitute understanding here) as separate wings of a bird - without either it can't fly.

Answer 6

"Knowledge" is the beginning to "Understanding." So I'm going to leave this simple and say knowledge is the most important. More importantly "True Knowledge."

How about this:

Prov. 15: 14
14 The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

Answer 7

Understanding is the most important to me, because knowledge is useless with out it

Answer 8

Knowledge indeed is important. Understanding what to do with that knowledge is more important.

Answer 9

All knowledge, if you think about it, is transient. What we believe today, can possibly even 'prove' can be overturned tomorrow, with the next great ( or even little ) discovery.

This means that it is always a mistake to put too much store by empirical knowledge. Maybe it's better to accept the Vedic principles of 'Vidya' and 'Arvidya'.

Vidya is unalterable 'Cosmic Truth', there is very little of this available to us in this realm, but the great masters, or teachers, if you prefer, have tried to tell us of such things.

Arvidya is the passing tide of knowledge in our relativistic realm, where all things are observed in relation to to each other, and above all to the 'Observer'.

Understanding is the wisdom to patiently accept that everything that we need to 'know' will make itself available to us when we need it. This is not to be mistaken with some 'fatalistic' abandonment of the drive to enquire into the nature of our realm. It is this very drive that impels us on our journey. and finding out what happens next is pretty much the point of this amazing thing we devised called 'Life'.

At least...........this is my understanding...... :-)

Answer 10

Both are important - once we learn the knowledge of the alphabet and literacy, the next step is to gain an even deeper understanding of what the words and ideas we learned mean. The two coexist and interact. I hope this answers your question, and makes sense to you, since the one who follows me and gives a thumbs down for every answer cannot understand the meaning of it.