The best advice you’ll hear from creators/inventors and otherwise knowledgeable people is that only the passion about a particular subject is the fuel that can keep the engine of inquisitiveness running. We also like this advice, as it seems to tell us that only such pure motivation can sustain us and that the rest will only be good for only a short burst and never suffice for the long run.

Wise though the advice is, we all know there are other reasons, some noble and others despicable, that are driving our desire for knowledge — some of which also seem to be capable of sustaining a lifelong dedication to learning. It could be on the one hand the necessity to survive (literally or figuratively), the desire to alleviate pain and suffering, solve difficult problems and make life tolerable; but it could be on the other hand that knowledge can be weaponized to command the fear and submission of others for various gains (financial, military, etc.)

Since many things can sustain and even push forward the boundaries of our collective knowledge; the fact that the saying that ‘knowledge is power’ became common speaks volume about human nature. If the end result is the same whether our motives are pure or not, why do we have a saying that seems to appeal to our selfishness become our go-to way to encourage people? Why draw from vice and not encourage virtue instead? Makes one wonder…

In any case, we’ve observed, especially in this era of knowledge work (where knowledge is capital as opposed to manual labor) that this ‘power’ comes with its perks — and they are significant! And since knowledge pays very well, we might as well stop pretending that altruism is our guide, and we can go get what we truly want: wealth and status.

Look around you and consider how we pursue knowledge. People are almost always studying. All kids go to school. Businesses are on the lookout for the brightest minds. Powerful governments invest in the best institutions of learning and fund research to maintain (if not increase) their dominance on the world stage. If you need to find a place in this world and ‘make a name for yourself’, then by all means, get knowledge; and it’ll help you accumulate more than others. It’s almost as though the realization that omniscience goes hand in hand with omnipotence fuels this frenzy.

However, knowledge isn’t easy to get. Schools are expensive. Time is scarce. Discipline and mental ability sometimes are lacking. Life brings its own challenges and demands that come in direct competition with this pursuit. Bodies get tired and sometimes the knowledge is inaccessible. Considerable effort (whether of time or money) can be invested but it’s no guarantee that it will pay off. It also turns out — and many have attested to this — that luck plays a key role.

This doesn’t deter us from searching. It is a narrow and thorny path. And we know that. But like most valuable things in life, nothing comes easy, and we are not afraid to fight and work hard and suffer whatever we must to acquire this jewel that is knowledge; it won’t be in vain.

Our consciousness of our own mortality and our awareness of our ignorance make us unhappy; we cannot learn to die, or rest our well-made heads on the pillow of ignorance… No psychic equilibrium is possible for a being whose desires so radically outstrip his possibilities… Misery follows ineluctably from an honest estimate of the gap between what we want and what we are.

I think Benjamin and Jena Storey brought out this point more eloquently in the quote above from their book “Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment”, as they were exploring the life and thought of the sixteen century’s Blaise Pascal who invites us to be honest and embrace discontentment and dissatisfaction and relentless as our lot. That’s what we should expect according him, and we would do well to get acquainted with frustrations about the number of things we don’t know and that we probably will never have the time to learn.

By no means was he encouraging us to leave the search and stay ignorant. After all, as is often said, “ignorance is bliss” isn’t it? For Pascal, that would be wasteful! In fact, he argues that it is in our nature to fight idleness. Should we pursue knowledge? Absolutely! But with the expectation that we will never escape the frustration of not being able to know everything!

Put the soul at rest, and it longs for activity; put the soul in motion, and it longs for rest. In neither does it find contentment.
Pascal in “Pensées”.

That is an honest but bleak picture! Where does that leave us?

The way I see it, knowledge truly is power. With every mystery of the universe that we manage to unlock, we’re “empowered” to do things differently or solve previously unsolvable problems. But at the same time, our eyes are open to an entire universe of knowledge we didn’t even know existed before and that we most likely cannot tame in our lifetime. In short, knowledge also highlights our human weaknesses and limitations.

Perfect knowledge — even if we put our heads together — is unattainable. Trying to reach for it is like trying to bridge over the Niagara Falls with only a broken ladder. Omniscience belongs to the Eternal one and therefore, not for us time-bound creatures.

To God — whether you believe in Him or not — only belongs all knowledge. Whether we want to use knowledge to serve or have others serve us, this knowledge belongs to Him, and we were only given a glimpse into it. Whether we do good or evil with the glimpse, it all ultimately and totally belongs to Him; we’re only stewards, and according to His Word, we shall give Him an account.

Only when mindful of God are we at peace when knowledge eludes us, resting in the fact that He knows it all and has it all under control. Only when mindful of God are we able to truly lay down the will (and burden) to “become like God” and be satisfied within our limits as creatures meant to worship the all-knowing Lord.