Is spiritual knowledge more important than knowledge of material reality?

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No. Spiritual knowledge is a misnomer. There is, strictly speaking, no such thing as spiritual knowledge. Enlightenment is the end of knowledge. There’s only “knowing” in enlightenment, not knowledge, and the difference between the two is the difference between experience and concepts. You may “know” how an apple tastes but you would never be able to communicate it to someone else with concepts (i.e. knowledge).

Spiritual knowledge can only be important with regards to methods and tools which work for you. Anything else, such as claims to the nature of reality, Gods, deities, and other notions such as soul, Nirvana, and even unconditional love is junk, and the less of it you pick up on your spiritual path, the better.

Material knowledge, such as if I put my hand in the fire it will burn is the only practical knowledge of any value.

Knowing yourself fully is not knowing yourself. The desire to know your true self or the nature of reality is the desire to rid yourself of all fantasies, all hopes, all dreams. Spiritual and religious people still wallow in their fantasies, they are just spiritual, as opposed to psychological, for most people. Or both.