Life's all about facts and figures

How important numbers are in everyday life... such as your age, salary, rent / price of apartment, time, cost of a commodity, GDP etc. Numbers dominate our lives so much that I believe the actual enjoyment of something is lost by paying attention to the figures.
It is worth noting that the true value of something is not its price, but what good it does to someone.

Not only that, but the tendency to be opinionated and judgmental all the time based on the knowledge one has gained through education, that sometimes hinders the common sense. Even the simple things can be made to look so technical & complicated that it can impede a person's appreciation of it...

I think education and numerical abilities are essential of course, but sometimes it is good to be naive too.

A quote by Einstein: "The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education."

I read this short humorous story few days back which might not be so relevant to the main topic or true, but I think it is just made up to demonstrate this thing:

” An illiterate man and his highly educated son went on a camping trip. They put up a tent and camped by a river side in the evening. Late at night the dad wakes up his son and says “Look up son, what you see?” Son replies “Countless stars”. Dad: “What does that tell you?” Son: “Astronomically it proves that there are countless number of stars and numerous planets.” Dad: “Idiot, someone has stolen our tent!” MORAL: Education ruins your common sense!

What if everything we see is a figure? A complex algorithm that drives all biology, geology, cosmology and just about any "ology" you can think of.

I agree that sometimes we we have a tendency to overlook the simple and obvious pleasures that life gives us while we focus on the figures, but I think the reverse is also true that we also have a tendency to overlook the intensely complex facts and figures that are driving even the most simple things.

In the tale you quoted, I'm wondering if its alternate meaning is saying the father, being a simple uneducated man is only suited to focus on what is directly in front of him and thus inferior to his son who is able to contemplate the vastness of space without worry of the worldly possessions the illiterate man bothers over.

I guess in the end its all about where you focus your eyes and mind to determine what you get out of every story and life in general: The Facts and Figures that can lead you on and send you into a dream trance or the hard view of a tent thief in the night. Hopefully e all see both in equal proportion!