Wisdom is a desirable thing. The opposite is foolishness. I doubt anyone wants to be foolish. Wisdom is a quality to aspire towards having more of. But what is wisdom? Etymologically, it derives from the Greek philo “love + sophia “wisdom”, which means “love of wisdom”.
Part of the “spiritual” journey and path of truth through knowledge, understanding and wisdom, is to know thyself, self-knowledge. What we do as we manifest our consciousness through actions/behaviors is a part of who we are. Wisdom is doing something with what you know. If you don’t act on what you understand to be right, then you don’t really understand the responsibility that comes with the knowledge and understanding of what is right to do.
“To know and not to do, is not to know.”
- Wang Yangming
There is a difference between having internal knowledge and understanding, and properly applying that knowledge and understand to externally act upon it. If we don't act upon our understanding of what's right to do, then we're missing out on engaging in right-action. We will likely keep engaging in either a suboptimal action, a wrong-action, a foolish action, or an inaction that prevents change for the better.
Understanding must culminate into an action at some point in order for something to result from that understanding. This is the basis of the Trivium Method (knowledge, understanding and wisdom). Otherwise, understanding without action leads to nothing being done in the end. Nothing will end up changing or being healed in the world. Action through conscious willpower is required for things to change around us. Having an accurate understanding of what ‘is’ in reality, the truth, is the first step. We need to gain knowledge first, then process it to understand it better. Once we know, what are we going to do with what we know?
That is how you can know something but not truly know it because you're not acting on that knowledge. Ultimately, we have to act on what we know. Knowledge informs our decisions and how we act or behave. Knowledge leads to an understanding so that we can act wisely. The knowledge and understanding is what brings us the potential to act. If we don't bring that knowing into our being and way of doing, then we don't really know the value of the knowledge or understanding that affects our decision making and motives us to act in accordance with that knowledge and understanding. And that means we don't really know.
The quote "to know and not to do, is not to know" is one of those "cleverly" worded phrases that wants to mystify you with a paradox to make it confusing to understand. it doesn't make sense unless you dig deeper into the meaning being conveyed. It's like an encoded message that needs to be deciphered. It's short and confusing, making it not the best for conveying direct meaning, but it’s meaning can be understood.
Knowledge and understanding is not the manifested external power in itself, but they can enable us to act. Knowledge is power as it empowers us, but it’s not the application of power. The wisdom of right-action developed through accurate understanding is the application of power that manifests in the real world. Our willpower makes knowledge powerful because we act upon it. Knowledge and understanding have no power in the world without the wisdom to act on it rightly.
Restricting knowledge (by censorship or keeping it hidden) takes power away from you because it limits potential understanding, willpower and the ability to act in the world. Knowledge builds paths of potential to actualize the power to act, while lacking knowledge and ignorance keeps those paths non-existent. False knowledge taken as truth also motivates us to the power of action, but it would be a wrong-action from foolishness rather than a right-action from wisdom.
Right-action is knowing and understanding properly, correctly, based upon the truth, and then acting upon it. We can act from a position of lack of knowledge and understanding and hope to get the results we want. But since we don't know enough about the situation and are acting from a position of ignorance, we aren’t likely to produce the results we want. By increasing our understanding of the core foundational root causal factors of the situation/problem we are in (why something is as it is), we can come to a position of accurate understanding in order to apply proper solutions. The more accurate our understanding is, the more accurate and effective our actions will be. The knowledge and understanding is one level of empowerment, but our willpower is required to empower us to greater levels of being by applying power through the wisdom of right-action.
There is an initial first level of internal wisdom. This is the understanding. The second level is external and is the proper application of understanding through right-action. The internal first level is without the external action. If we want to change our behavior to engage in better actions, then we need to have the inner-vision first before manifesting the outer-vision into the world. We need to think of what's right before we can be right. Thinking before being, thought before action. First comes the initial internal wisdom, then comes the proper and applied external wisdom.