Osho on the difference between ‘Knowing’ and ‘Knowledge’
For example, when you are seeing a sunset and you are overwhelmed by its beauty, in that moment there is knowing. You don’t even say to yourself, “How beautiful!” – because even the words “how beautiful” will be a disturbance, will take you away from the present.
If you simply stand before the setting sun, with all the colors spread over the horizon, shadows, reflections in the ocean, it is so enchanting that you almost stop breathing.
You are in a state of awe.
Those few moments are knowing. Tomorrow you will tell somebody what a beautiful sunset you have seen the day before – that will be knowledge. Now it is only words.
The difference is very subtle. Knowing is a living, flowing experience, still vibrating in your heart. Knowledge is of the past – it may be just one minute past. Knowledge is part of the memory; knowing is part of awareness.
Osho, The Great Zen Master Ta Hui, Ch 21 (excerpt)