From the day we are born our awareness of facts and information gained by experience and contextual situations grow larger (i.e, our personal knowledge).

Acquired skills through experience or education are the foundation of our theoretical or practical understanding of things.

Hidden Knowledge

Our knowledge must be within our conscious mind in order to be of use to us, however, over time we do develop a store of unconscious knowledge.

Using our unconscious knowledge in our decision-making processes can be of great value but is often overlooked because the information is not readily available.

Awareness is required to leverage what you know.  If you are not aware you know something it is not useable.  The ability to draw on our hidden knowledge can help solve problems or issues we did not realize we were capable of addressing on our own.

The Wizard of Oz

When Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz finds out how to return to Kansas she is advised she had the ability to get home all along, it was, in fact, unconscious knowledge, she had it but was not aware.

This is a common theme throughout the story. The lion wants courage but already has it, the scarecrow brains but he is smart and so on.  A simple message, don’t ignore what you have already.

Although just a children’s tale it was crafted to impart wisdom to the young (a common practice in children’s stories) albeit the point can often be lost on adults.

Caution

Believing your unconscious knowledge to be the source could also be a delusion so some validation through questioning or other confirmation steps is in order.

That is sometimes what you think you know and what you do know can be different.  If you do have the knowledge though, hidden away somewhere, don’t waste it.  Seek it out.