Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Triggering and Maintaining a Desire to Learn

What is the best way to trigger and maintain an urge or desire to learn?

I ask this because whenever I feel like I should know anything or something, and the only way to know is to engage or interact with some literature, people, contexts, and so forth, I feel a certain edge of discomfort. I do not want to start, although the need to know is so irresistible. This is the time I feel I should sleep, go out to bask, drink a beer, do my dishes and all those sundry things just to find a reason not to engage with knowledge searching/building/acquisition. I often find myself looking for a reason why I should not engage with any learning. I procrastinate. Unfortunately, if I heed to any of these, when the obstructing session is gone, there is no more urge to know. I believe there is pain in knowing, there is more discomfort in knowledge, BUT there is more pain in knowing that you have intentionally killed an opportunity to know, that you have failed in creating knowledge that would have saved mankind from its problems or still you have looked on as your time on earth elapse fruitlessly. However, there is relief in ignorance because the mental disposition that would have been caused by such knowledge formula is not going to haunt me - but how long will I resist the need to know?

Why should I sit here reading for 3 hours everyday? I mean to ask, what knowledge is enough knowledge? Is knowledge like money or power that when you get drunk of it you want more? Does one actually get drunk of knowledge? When does knowledge become power? For me, knowledge becomes power when its being transfered from one person to the other or from one state/form to another. I do not have the power in knowledge if I cannot be able to empower others with the knowledge I have, transform it from one form to another, use it to create solutions, use it to predict and forecast on the future - in short to improve and enrich life. This can only be done by foreshadowing the past, living the present and prognosticating the future. Therefore, once there is the disturbance of the mind with genuine need to learn, there is no end to the hunt for knowledge.

Seems like I do not have a reason to procrastinate today. I will seek knowledge first. Think of this: A politician would tell me knowledge would become power when its in the hands of the people. It is the same politician who would like to blatantly lie to me, even when he knows that I posses the knowledge-power. I can tell from the letters of his words that he is telling a lie. So in this case who has power?

If you read this, and have answer to any of the questions send them to me, else seek ye knowledge.

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