Facts are given by the senses, as we see an object such as a pen. Ideas emanate from the mind. It collects the facts given to us by the senses, coordinates them and draws the essence from them as an Idea. A college degree may give us a job is not a mere fact. It is an idea, drawn from the experience of various people. Original Ideas are there in a small number. An ethical treatise like Thirukural is based on thirteen or fourteen such original ideas. They originate neither from the senses, nor from the mind. They issue out of the Spirit emerging out of Mind. All great souls have given the world such ideas. Today the world lives by them. They are simple to comprehend, impossible to follow. Patience is essential to accomplish is one such idea. When a moment of excitement arrives, who can have natural patience? One may put up the behaviour of Patience. Patience is vastly different from a behaviour of patience.
Education gives us FACTS. They are stored in our memory. Unseen by us, some ideas collect behind by the strength of one's personality. Personality converts the collected facts by the strength of our ideas into capacity of accomplishment. We see these ideas as our attitudes in life or motives of our being. Indian education as devised by the British lays emphasis on memory. Watering down the quality of our education has been one main reason for our poverty. The West progressed mainly on the strength of their education. They have a superior type of education where children are trained to think. The amount of information they have about nutrition, health, civic life, science, machinery, etc., etc. is enormous. All this information goes to strengthen their ideas. Ideas are powerful. Today the West is the rich West because of their ideas.
There is more. They are called original ideas. There are not many that rule the world. Original Ideas do not come from education or thinking. They come from the Spirit. All original ideas from the time of the Greek philosophers have come from the Spirit. Not one original idea has emanated from facts collected by study. India is a land of the Spirit. She has realised the Absolute Brahman in the Spirit. The West has realised Brahman in Matter with an equally arduous endeavour. The future is for Original Ideas, not for facts or simple ideas. Sri Aurobindo has done one better. He has brought to the world that ORIGINAL idea which can wipe off karma.