Learn from Others
Not benefitting from others is the greatest loss. If a person finds something lacking in him, he should compensate for it by deriving benefit from others.
According to a tradition, the Prophet of Islam once observed: “Seek guidance from the wise and you will be guided, and do not go against that, otherwise you will repent of it.” (Kanzul Ummal 7180)
All human beings are not cast in the same mould. Some have less knowledge, while some have more knowledge. Some have more experience while some have less experience. Similarly, some are gifted naturally with more wisdom and understanding, while some are less well-endowed. This difference exists so that people may benefit from one another. If a person finds something lacking in him, he should compensate for it by deriving benefit from others.
This is the system of nature, and it is only by acting in accordance with it that a person can be successful. Those who go against the system of nature can expect nothing but ruination.
A person should know himself. Moreover, he should know others. Those who are unbiased in this matter will know themselves as well as others and their thinking will be that on all occasions they will do well to seek guidance from others. Those who have more wisdom and experience or have more knowledge will be able to accept that guidance with an open mind, because he will know that on such occasions going against the way of wisdom will not take him anywhere except in the direction of destruction.
When anyone does not listen to the wise, why does he do so? The reason is that he takes the matter as one of prestige. He thinks that if he listens to others, he will seem inferior to them. But such thinking is totally foolish. Making a prestige issue of such matters is akin to closing the door of success and progress on oneself. Not listening to the wise appears to be just not paying attention to others but, in reality, it is one’s own loss. When a person does not listen to a valid point made by others, it amounts to rejecting one’s own nature and denying one’s own conscience. And this, without doubt is the greatest loss.
