--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: There is a way in which the collective…" description: "\"There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . . a way in which..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg" --- # There is a way in which the collective knowledge of… ![“There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . . a way in which life itself is sheer knowing.” quote by Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg) > “There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . . a way in which life itself is sheer knowing.” [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Human consciousness manifests collective wisdom through everyday experiences, turning ordinary life into a continuous process of learning. **In simple terms:** Everyday life reveals shared knowledge. Key Takeaway Life is a constant learning process. Themes collective wisdom epistemology human experience daily living knowledge transmission Mood reflective inspired thoughtful Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - personal growth - cultural education - intergenerational learning - mindful living Key Concepts collective consciousness learning existential insight Practical Applications - education design - personal development coaching Questions to Reflect On - How does routine shape our understanding of the world? - In what ways can we become more aware of the knowledge embedded in daily actions? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Collective knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-knowledge/) [Collectives](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collectives/) [Daily living](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/daily-living/) [Finite](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/finite/) [Identity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/identity/) [Individual](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individual/) [Individuality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/individuality/) [Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowing/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Knowledge Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge-mankind-338929/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Life itself](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life-itself/) [Mankind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind/) [Mankind Expresses](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mankind-expresses-338930/) [Mere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mere/) [Nature of man](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature-of-man/) [Sheer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheer/) [Sheer Knowing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sheer-knowing-338931/) [Way](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/way/) ## Related quotes > [Knowledge of mankind is a knowledge of their passions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-disraeli/knowledge-of-mankind-is-a-knowledge-of-their-passions/) [Benjamin Disraeli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-disraeli/) > [“Consequently he himself perceived that a knowledge of mankind would have availed him more than all the legal refinements and philosophical maxims in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nikolai-gogol/consequently-he-himself-perceived-that-a-knowledge-of-mankind-would/) [Nikolai Gogol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nikolai-gogol/) > [In love abides all knowledge. It is mankind's love and interest in things that in time reveals their secret.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hazrat-inayat-khan/in-love-abides-all-knowledge-it-is-mankind-s-love-and-interest-in/) [Hazrat Inayat Khan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hazrat-inayat-khan/) > [A knowledge of mankind and of things that surround us gives us that second education which proves far move valuable than our first because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/honor-de-balzac/a-knowledge-of-mankind-and-of-things-that-surround-us-gives-us-that/) [Honore de Balzac](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/honor-de-balzac/) > [“Books are the greatest treasure of wisdom and knowledge for mankind.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lailah-gifty-akita/books-are-the-greatest-treasure-of-wisdom-and-knowledge-for-mankind/) [Lailah Gifty Akita](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lailah-gifty-akita/) > [The first steps in the path of discovery, and the first approximate measures, are those which add most to the existing knowledge of mankind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-babbage/the-first-steps-in-the-path-of-discovery-and-the-first-approximate/) [Charles Babbage](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-babbage/) > [The knowledge that mankind needs is not the way or principle which has an absolute existence, but the particular truths for here and now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hu-shih/the-knowledge-that-mankind-needs-is-not-the-way-or-principle-which/) [Hu Shih](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hu-shih/) > [Children, who have so much to learn in so short a time, had involved the tendency to trust adults to instruct them in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/children-who-have-so-much-to-learn-in-so-short-a-time-had-involved/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“I get to help people every day, and it’s the least I can do. Humanity’s collective knowledge is the result of countless hours of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-pepper/i-get-to-help-people-every-day-and-it-s-the-least-i-can-do-humanity-s/) [Angela Pepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-pepper/) > [I love participatory media, collective knowledge systems, user-generated content and the like, and spent much of my life and career participating in them and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caterina-fake/i-love-participatory-media-collective-knowledge-systems-user/) [Caterina Fake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caterina-fake/) > [“It wasn't science and technology that cause a slow progress, but collective knowledge of the society and market demands.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/it-wasn-t-science-and-technology-that-cause-a-slow-progress-but/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tench-coxe/as-our-president-bears-no-resemblance-to-a-king-so-we-shall-see-the/) [Tench Coxe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tench-coxe/) > [The importance of the development of the emotional body is hardly recognized today. We are pretty much left to our own devices to come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/the-importance-of-the-development-of-the-emotional-body-is-hardly/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [“We invite skepticism. In fact, we require it. It is an essential mechanism for challenging ideas, identifying errors, and furthering collective knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-weinstein-heather-heying/we-invite-skepticism-in-fact-we-require-it-it-is-an-essential/) [Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-weinstein-heather-heying/) > [“TRANSFORM LOCAL DISCOVERIES INTO GLOBAL IMPROVEMENTS When new learnings are discovered locally, there must also be some mechanism to enable the rest of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/transform-local-discoveries-into-global-improvements-when-new/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) ## More by Laurens van der Post > [Man is never alone. Acknowledged or unacknowledged, that which dreams through him is always there to support him from within.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/man-is-never-alone-acknowledged-or-unacknowledged-that-which-dreams/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [You cannot take the life of your times further than you have taken yourself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/you-cannot-take-the-life-of-your-times-further-than-you-have-taken/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [Of all man's inborn dispositions there is none more heroic than the love in him. Everything else accepts defeat and dies, but love will…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/of-all-man-s-inborn-dispositions-there-is-none-more-heroic-than-the/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [Creativity and love come from the same source.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/creativity-and-love-come-from-the-same-source/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [Human beings are perhaps never more frightening than when they are convinced beyond doubt that they are right.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/human-beings-are-perhaps-never-more-frightening-than-when-they-are/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [The age of leaders has come and gone. You must be your own leader now. You must contain the spirit of our time in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/the-age-of-leaders-has-come-and-gone-you-must-be-your-own-leader-now/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [I suspect it was...the old story of the implacable necessity of a man having honour within his own natural spirit. A man cannot live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/i-suspect-it-was-the-old-story-of-the-implacable-necessity-of-a-man/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [In a profound sense every man has two halves to his being; he is not one person so much as two persons trying to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/in-a-profound-sense-every-man-has-two-halves-to-his-being-he-is-not/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one's eternal peril.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/life-is-its-own-journey-presupposes-its-own-change-and-movement-and/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [The educating of the parents is really the education of the child children tend to live what is unlived in the parents, so it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/the-educating-of-the-parents-is-really-the-education-of-the-child/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [“We may not be able to stop and undo the hard old wrongs of the great world outside, but through you and me no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/we-may-not-be-able-to-stop-and-undo-the-hard-old-wrongs-of-the-great/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [“As the natural coherence of the world vanishes, there's a guilt that grows great and angry in the basement of our beings.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/as-the-natural-coherence-of-the-world-vanishes-there-s-a-guilt-that/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [“It's the not-yet in the now, the taste of the fruit that does not-yet exist, hanging the blossom on the bough.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/it-s-the-not-yet-in-the-now-the-taste-of-the-fruit-that-does-not-yet/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [“Modern man has lost the sense of wonder about the unknown and he treats it as an enemy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/modern-man-has-lost-the-sense-of-wonder-about-the-unknown-and-he/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) > [Organized religion is making Christianity political rather than making politics Christian.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/organized-religion-is-making-christianity-political-rather-than/) [Laurens van der Post](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) [Explore all 25 Laurens van der Post quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/) ## More Collective knowledge quotes > [“I get to help people every day, and it’s the least I can do. Humanity’s collective knowledge is the result of countless hours of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-pepper/i-get-to-help-people-every-day-and-it-s-the-least-i-can-do-humanity-s/) [Angela Pepper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/angela-pepper/) > [“It wasn't science and technology that cause a slow progress, but collective knowledge of the society and market demands.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toba-beta/it-wasn-t-science-and-technology-that-cause-a-slow-progress-but/) [Toba Beta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toba-beta/) > [Children, who have so much to learn in so short a time, had involved the tendency to trust adults to instruct them in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-goldstein/children-who-have-so-much-to-learn-in-so-short-a-time-had-involved/) [Rebecca Goldstein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-goldstein/) > [“We invite skepticism. In fact, we require it. It is an essential mechanism for challenging ideas, identifying errors, and furthering collective knowledge.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bret-weinstein-heather-heying/we-invite-skepticism-in-fact-we-require-it-it-is-an-essential/) [Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bret-weinstein-heather-heying/) > [“TRANSFORM LOCAL DISCOVERIES INTO GLOBAL IMPROVEMENTS When new learnings are discovered locally, there must also be some mechanism to enable the rest of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-kim/transform-local-discoveries-into-global-improvements-when-new/) [Gene Kim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-kim/) > [The importance of the development of the emotional body is hardly recognized today. We are pretty much left to our own devices to come…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jon-kabat-zinn/the-importance-of-the-development-of-the-emotional-body-is-hardly/) [Jon Kabat-Zinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jon-kabat-zinn/) > [As our president bears no resemblance to a king so we shall see the Senate has no similitude to nobles. First, not being hereditary,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tench-coxe/as-our-president-bears-no-resemblance-to-a-king-so-we-shall-see-the/) [Tench Coxe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tench-coxe/) > [I love participatory media, collective knowledge systems, user-generated content and the like, and spent much of my life and career participating in them and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caterina-fake/i-love-participatory-media-collective-knowledge-systems-user/) [Caterina Fake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caterina-fake/) > [The library connects us with the insight and knowledge, painfully extracted from Nature, of the greatest minds that ever were, with the best teachers,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-sagan/the-library-connects-us-with-the-insight-and-knowledge-painfully/) [Carl Sagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-sagan/) [Browse all 10 Collective knowledge quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/collective-knowledge/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living . . . a way in which life itself is sheer knowing.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Laurens van der Post" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Collective knowledge" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/88b/laurens-van-der-post-23539_collective-knowledge_there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-k_8252.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual…” — Laurens van der Post", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Laurens van der Post", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurens-van-der-post/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "There is a way in which...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurens-van-der-post/there-is-a-way-in-which-the-collective-knowledge-of-mankind-expresses/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```