When I was young, growing up, I was unaware of most of the world's problems, of people suffering. I just focused on myself and my surroundings—getting good grades at school, playing soccer with my teammates, performing well in the school league, behaving properly with siblings and around the home, and finishing my homework before playing video games or outside with my neighbors.

Then, as you grow up, as I did, you start learning about the world. You start watching news channels. You start traveling. You realize that there’s a gigantic place out there with countless people and lives. And you realize that not all of them are happy. Not all of them have it easy. Not all of them have their basic needs covered. Many sentient beings are suffering.

The more you know, the less you can avoid noticing. The more you are inclined to think about others. The more you get concerned about the current affairs of the world. The more you feel helpless for the direction humankind is heading towards.

“The higher the stage of ‘book learning’ you attain,” Yogi Ramacharaka remarks, “the more disturbed you become.”

It’s the paradox; you want to attain more knowledge, and the more you do, the more you suffer. Growing mentally “enables you to see the new problems and the impossibility of their answer.”

Your past self didn’t even bother or imagine, or consider the problems that bother your current self who “thinks more.”

Will you allow such knowledge to turn you into a pessimist? Will you think the world is evil? Doomed? Will you choose to perceive everything as a curse?

Or will you see the blessings? Play your part and play it well? Do the best you can at the moment?

It’s okay to not know the answers to the questions and riddles of life. It’s sometimes easy to feel overwhelmed and helpless as you develop mentally and learn more things. But don’t let it turn you into a cynic.

Keep a positive outlook.