People walk the outside path instead of the inward path and it's, therefore, no wonder they don't know themselves. For they choose the path of knowledge and the corporate ladder instead of the path to wisdom.

 And Jacob's ladder, in simple terms: they choose the tree of knowledge and strife instead of wisdom and life. They're barking up the wrong tree.


Man measures his growth in his achievement. Degree, money, technology, belongings, anything but himself. It's simply an identity crisis. 

The man comes into this world alone and with nothing. And as a man starts to grow the hoards as a grow. It is therefore no wonder that man confuses growth with belongings and his ability to gather these.

See as a man grows he accumulate and so he becomes confused and starts to measure growth in the accumulation of things. His treasures thus become his measurement for growth. His benchmark.
Growth however is not an external journey but an internal one. 

The external merely serves as a distraction away from the internal path. And so man often dies with lots of belongings but empty inside. And so they gather for themselves treasures outside but inside they are poor. And since they are poor and empty inside, they have to keep and maintain an image outside. 

They have nothing to give but brag about their belongings and achievements, their dreams and desires, and in so doing distract those around them from their naked empty state and screaming loneliness.