With the amount of information out there, I have noticed different trends in how we work with it. I have identified 5 levels of working with information and ideas. Let’s look first at a brief description of each, and then at the general principles. The names are chosen to describe the key task rather than the type of activity.

It is important to note that the proposed scale is not directly related to other scales such as success, spirituality and wisdom. There are many ways of looking at a person and many different scales will be valid, each in its own context.

Levels of working with ideas

I have divided the scale according to the complexity of working with information. Each level increases in complexity. Whereas at the first level we are passive recipients, at the last level we are creators of new ideas. You have to make an effort to take a step.

Consumer

This level is the key and the foundation of everyone’s life. It is the simplest, but we use it the most. The first level is a passive perception of information, without any processing or deepening. When we are at this level of working with ideas, we often read, listen to or watch a variety of heterogeneous information. For example, you can watch a video about how wild animals live in the jungle, but it will not be of any practical use to us if it is not part of our profession, nor will it enrich our inner world. The next might be a video about the making of an atomic bomb, and then about the principles of a Swedish prison. This is the level where all the unnecessary things we know but never use for anything remain. Unfortunately, there may be knowledge that is important to us.

But not all the information we read or see stays in our memory. We seek out and take in what is coloured by our emotions, what touches us. As in the example above, we might watch videos that say the world is a dangerous and scary place. Subconsciously, we always choose what we want to watch - these choices are not random. Modern technology allows us to tailor videos or advertisements to our interests. Everything else, and this is the majority of what we hear and see, cannot remain as knowledge because we do not even consider it valuable. The main task of any advertising is to touch our emotions and get through to us.

If we do not process the knowledge we have gained, it will remain covered with a layer of emotion. It’s impossible to move on to the next levels if you don’t have ways of working with your feelings and emotional state. For example, it is difficult for us to start thinking about how to make money if we think that rich people are evil just because they have a lot of money. But it can help us to be mindful of the information we consume - analysing the topics that interest us and that stick in our minds can give us a more complete understanding of ourselves.

User

Just like a PC user. Knowledge is required for practical action. The depth of knowledge is not important. Superficial information is sufficient. A simple solution or answer is best.

We learn this method in childhood and use it for extremely practical things and in most areas that are not important to us. If we questioned every piece of knowledge we learned in a day, we wouldn’t have the energy or time for anything else. This method saves mental energy - knowledge is gradually stitched into reflexes. For example, we were once told that we need to brush our teeth twice a day. We may not know how to do it correctly, what it is really for, but we do it anyway. This approach gives simple answers: “drink orange juice, and you’ll be healthy.” Often, such knowledge can come from patterns that we have found and realised, but have not yet been proven.

The basis of the knowledge developed at this level depends on the society and culture in which we live. Some questions are answered with answers that we can live with for the rest of our lives, and some areas of life are so poorly described, such as relationships with a partner, that we have to keep searching. Some cultures have myths about how to build a family many years after the relationship begins. Others have stories, fairy tales and myths, most of which end with the creation of a couple - and nothing is defined or described after that.

The main focus of work at the User level is the application of knowledge and ideas.

Unfortunately, this method often leads to imitation. Therefore, if you feel dissatisfied with any area, it is better to move on to the next levels of working with information, which are described below. There is a paradox in the name, because here a person does not use knowledge, but still obeys it.

Marketer

To work at this level, a person already needs a certain amount of knowledge. This is where we start to use information rather than being subject to it. Deepening already plays a significant role. After all, to use something skilfully, you have to study it well. There can’t be many such specific areas of knowledge where we work at the level of a Marketer - they require an incredible amount of effort and time. It’s rare to find a person under the age of 30 who has the confidence to work with ideas at this level. Often you have to spend most of your life working on one or more subjects to be successful.

For example, when a person is first introduced to psychology, in the early stages he or she may be given simple formulas such as “rest is important for the psyche” or “relationships with parents affect the rest of your life”. Then they would notice how they builds relationships with the loved ones. Over time, they would learn to understand themselves and others better. Step by step we move forward. When the effort of the next step seems to outweigh the benefit, the Marketer thinks it’s time to stop.

Every person is connected to other people through society, and knowledge cannot be separated from people and practical use. Important ideas have practical applications. It is at this level that we make the most effective use of what this field of knowledge can give us.

Let’s say we are unhappy with our health and decide to start eating right. After attending seminars, visiting doctors, reading books and listening to lectures, you can form a sufficient vision to solve your problem, improve your diet and improve your health. Then you can go on and choose healthy eating as your profession, look for more effective ways and start teaching people. After all, you can now teach your students or clients the most effective ways to improve their diets.

This information is usually used for ourselves, for our own benefit. It is very practical, for use here and now. The focus is on efficiency, getting a resource for yourself, whether it’s money, health or ‘power’. A Marketer builds a system to benefit from it. That’s why people often put information out under their own name or brand.

How to check yourself so that you don’t get confused with the next level:

• If another person (preferably a student) is able to gain more personal benefit from this knowledge, it will cause irritation and envy.
• We will consider it wrong if someone uses our knowledge without attribution, even if we do it ourselves.
• We would like to limit the dissemination of information or even stop it if it is not profitable for us.

Propagandist

When information is disseminated not for the sake of profit, but for the sake of information, this is a step to the next level. I call it Propagandist, because a person disseminates information not from themselves, but from an idea. Here we are spreading information among people, but we are not yet creating new knowledge.

One of the ideas of a Propagandist is that there is someone who has already answered all the questions or knows the answer. He works with those answers.

At the previous levels, discussion is meaningless except in a purely applied sense: whoever wins the argument is stronger. At this level, however, there is already reflection in thinking. If a person sees that their position is wrong, they have the strength and courage to admit it. But this cannot yet be called true self-reflection. Here we are unlikely to break our worldview on our own. There is still no sense of the limits of our competence. A Propagandist often has answers to all questions because he does not feel the limits of his knowledge.

In such people you can sometimes detect a certain internal struggle, for example a characteristic feeling of “even if the whole world is against me, I still believe in it/will do it”. It is not locally emotional, as at the User level, but long-term and balanced. Often people hold opposing views in their minds and perceive them as hostile. But the real job of those opposite ideas is to help crystallise the important idea that the Propagandist is developing. People who are deeply involved in one subject are often not interested in other subjects. They can shut out other views for the sake of it. This is a very strong position which often prevents discussion. A normal discussion becomes possible when a person gains confidence in his or her knowledge. Then he or she is ready to question it, because it does no harm to shake up an idea.

For example, a person may have a reasonable idea of what political system is best for the country, what steps should be taken, what will work and what will not. They can actively discuss different positions, the pros and cons of each, and respect their opponents. But they are unlikely to allow doubt about the foundations of their worldview. Fortunately, there are not many people around who can identify those foundations.

An idea at this level is not directly linked to a person. An idea can carry the principle of a ‘god’ or something sacred. For its sake one can make sacrifices, give up something, and there is a great need to serve it. A person sees the whole world through a chosen prism, and the main focus of attention is on strengthening the idea. A Propagandist builds a system to spread knowledge. A person with this kind of attention span finds it difficult to survive if an idea is used only to make money. But he/she will allow it to spread for power or service. Power is needed for further empowerment. But it can also be a source of conflict.

How to check yourself so as not to confuse yourself with other levels:

• If a person stops studying and spreading his subject, he is not at that level, but below it.
• When someone else passes on our information in their own name, it makes us feel good and happy. Because “the idea should come before the person”.
• It is very easy to confuse this with the User level, where service is emotional and forced, rather than a voluntary and balanced act, as in the case of a Propagandist. Impulsiveness can be seen as a sign of a User level, whereas a Propagandist gradually builds his life around an idea.

Scientist

When working at the Propagandist level, a person often tries to answer all questions, even if they do not have sufficient competence. Although the amount of knowledge we work with at the Scientist level is much greater, such a person will often only answer questions on a limited range of topics in which they are well versed.

At this level we have already mastered the laws of working with information, for example that “you cannot rely on unproven knowledge”. In fact, this is where the real intellectual work begins. That’s why it’s the most difficult of all. Without decades of discipline and work, it is impossible to gain a foothold at this level.

It is only at this level that it makes sense to talk about the boundaries of competence. Here they are wider than at any of the previous levels. Sometimes a person understands the limits of his or her knowledge, but not the limits of an idea. A Scientist looks for the limits of ideas and defines them.

Today, humanity cannot even explain most of the physical phenomena in the world. For tens of thousands of years, mankind has had the opportunity to study itself, but this question has been even less explored. I don’t know of any scientific or humanitarian field that can boast of having answered all its questions. The further we go, the more unknowns we have. Perhaps one day there will be such a moment, but for now all knowledge has limits. The Scientist tries to define them and go one step further. It is at this level that we never stop learning. It is here that information is created, the understanding of the world is expanded, which is then used at all previous levels.

Not all knowledge found at this level has a practical application. If a Scientist were to rely only on searching for use, the process would lose its meaning. The value of some ideas may only become apparent years or even centuries later. Moreover, sometimes we discover something new only gradually, and until we have a complete picture it is difficult to understand what all the previous steps and discoveries were for.

It is very difficult for a human being to give up what he knows. The thought of “maybe I’ve been living wrong for the last twenty years?” is unbearable for most of us. But for a Scientist, the feeling of giving up their current knowledge can bring a certain amount of joy as well as fear. They are able to break down their world view because they are not relying on just one way of seeing. At this level we learn to have many foundations. To do this, you sometimes have to break the existing ones.

There are cases when you can confuse a Propagandist with a Scientist, when the former has an intellectual field of activity or works as a scientist. But year after year he or she does not discover anything new, but continues to tell his or her story. The moment you realise that their knowledge is very “static” or that they are a person of one subject, you should take a closer look. A Scientist is unlikely to stop at one topic. An in-depth study of any subject requires the study of related subjects, as no field of activity can be closed off in itself. Moreover, once a person has enjoyed the pleasure of increasing the dimensionality of his or her view of the world, it is almost impossible to give it up.

The focus is on the expansion and integrity of one’s knowledge, pushing its boundaries as far as possible. The Scientist will care little if one of his students or followers makes better use of the information to gain an advantage.

The holistic view

Let’s try to summarise the above and learn to distinguish between the levels. Each level is about how we work with information, how much effort we put into that work, how motivated we are by the subject, how important the integrity of that aspect of knowledge is to us, and how we react to information that contradicts what we already know.

As with many systems, it is the inner motivation that matters, not the form. Often what looks the same on the outside has a completely different essence on the inside. It’s possible to discern attitudes and inner desires, but it takes good training. And yet you can never be completely sure that your assumptions are correct.

The roles described cover most of the cases I’ve seen, but this is just a model. The images presented are idealised. There are very few people who have pure levels, because the essence of a person is constant development. If it does not describe something from your experience, then you need a more complex model.

The benefits of each level

What can each level be useful for?

• The Consumer is there for entertainment, to receive and filter information. Sometimes we don’t know what to do in the most important phases of our lives. In this case, you can be a receiver of information for a while. It is also useful for finding inspiration.
• The User is for practical use, to get benefits quickly and easily.
• The Marketer is the level of a strong specialist, it gives you the opportunity to scale the benefits and gain good practical knowledge. If you want to know, but are not ready to dedicate your life to studying.
• The Propagandist is a person who wants to change his or her field and the world. The scale may vary, but the point is to transform and spread existing knowledge.
• The Scientist is about creating new ideas, looking for forms and ways to reconcile existing knowledge.

Whatever level we are at, we have all the simpler levels at the same time. Mastery can be seen as the ability to apply the chosen method to the task.

Examples from the social space

Observing the Ukrainian social space (my home country), I will give a few examples to bring the scheme to life. I do not know the people described personally and cannot get into their heads, so my assumptions will be based on the results of their work.

• The Marketers are all kinds of teachers, trainers, schools that help you learn your subject quickly and effectively and improve your life. If a person has worked hard, the knowledge they present will work. Unfortunately, these people rarely provide references to primary sources, although they often collect effective mechanisms and techniques from everywhere, which they postulate. They present knowledge and approaches in their own name. They often do not teach you to look for new tools, but only to use the ones they suggest. They don’t like criticism because their knowledge and intellectual base are not strong. It is particularly important to remind you that the benefit for the Marketer is not just money, but every other resource - attention, popularity, respect.
• The Propagandist is a well-known figure, Valeriy Pekar¹. He provides many links, primary sources and develops his theme: he teaches people, gives public lectures, writes articles. And although his subject is quite limited, he is very good at spreading it, making people more effective, changing not only his environment but also the country. He teaches people to use knowledge to find new patterns, to create their own system, but within the framework of the main theme. He often removes himself as a person from the ideas he promotes.
• The Scientist is the philosopher-promoter Andriy Baumeister². He passes on all his knowledge without concealment, all the references, describes his subject in depth and in many ways. He works with his emotions at a very high level. He teaches you to look for new knowledge yourself, not necessarily in the direction he suggests. He seeks and asks for criticism of his ideas.

It seems that the people described above perform well not only their intellectual function but also their social function, which is undoubtedly present in all of us. The higher the social level, the greater the social function and the responsibility.

An organisation is more complex: it may be at a lower level than its founder. Most of the cases it is at the middle level of its members. Structures rarely grow, but if they do, they may combine several levels at the same time.

Transition

The step from one level to another (in fact there are dozens or even hundreds of small steps) is not at all obvious. It is almost impossible to do it alone without external support. The task of each of us is to enable and help other people who are currently at step -1 to take that step.

What can you do if you want to try to work at the next level? You often need to go back to the basics and go through them again and again to understand your subject. Education is not only about expanding upwards, but also about reaching the roots. I believe that a teacher who is one level higher is best suited for this task. If the gap between the teacher and the student is too great, then such a person will not be perceived as a teacher, and his or her motivation will be completely incomprehensible to us. This should be a person we admire and inspire. It is important that they have a much wider vision, a deeper understanding and a more complex world view than ours. Finding such a teacher is a great blessing, and it is worth spending time on the search. It is also better to limit access to new information and to elevate existing areas, to study principles and laws based on someone else’s example and literature. The disorder of knowledge is reduced only by hard work. At every level there is a sense of the limit of knowledge, and at every level it is illusory. When we see our present limit, we can go further.

The higher the level, the fewer the emotions. Even if you consider emotions to be correct and appropriate to the situation, they are still emotions, not ideas. True ideas are not emotional. They are completely different levels of reality. In Indian culture they were attributed to different levels of being.

Impact through ideas

Once the world was ruled by power, now it is ruled by stories. But there have always been ideas and concepts behind them both. There is also something beyond ideas. I believe that when humanity makes a significant step forward in working with ideas, a new level will open up. Today, working with ideas is seen as increasingly important. Influencing through ideas is an art that has to be learned. It is hard work, because you first have to study the ways of describing the world, identify them around you, distinguish values in people when communicating with them, and offer a slightly expanded set of values that will guide their consciousness and stay with them for a long time. And so on in a spiral, going deeper each time.

To return to our topic, each level is affected differently by propaganda. If you are working on a particular issue at the Propagandist level, you will be less affected by the tools of the simpler levels. It is impossible to impose one idea when you know a dozen alternatives.

Final words

This article, like the others, was inspired by my desire to systematise the existing ideas about the world. I have not seen similar classifications before, so I have built one for myself. I will be incredibly happy if in the future I find a well-developed system that covers these questions.

If someone draws a parallel between the levels and the Indian caste system, then yes, there is a parallel. But not exactly. At least because the caste system determines a caste for an entire rebirth. And the level of working with ideas can be different in each area. We can be at all 5 levels simultaneously in different areas of knowledge. The caste system is a good structure for understanding intrinsic motivation and the difference between form and content. For those who know it well, I propose to answer the question of what are the similarities and differences. I am not in a position to overlap them completely.

What do I claim and strive for? Whatever level you like in a particular area of knowledge, use it and aim for +1. I’ve seen many examples of people oversimplifying, but I’ve also seen many examples of people trying to get into things that are more complicated than necessary. People who devote their lives to serving ideas often don’t have a happy social life. What you definitely shouldn’t do is spend your life on something that shouldn’t be in it. But it is important to put all your energy into what is valuable and to create yourself through new ideas.