KNOWLEDGE EMPOWERS

 ABC Wednesday

                                               
K is for Knowledge

How often do we hear the words “Knowledge is Power”? However, the one who made this seminal statement was Francis Bacon the 16th century essayist. The concept underlying this assertion has generated  deep resonance in thinking minds all along. Ironically, most of us don’t care to mull over the significance of these words which can be life changing.

What does knowledge mean? In simple words, knowledge is what you have imbibed through study, observation, traveling and interaction with different types of people in the course of your life.

In the present times however, internet has acquired the status of a magical wand possessing a colossal reservoir of knowledge at a click away. You marvel at your luck to be around at such a period of history, where internet is the unique wizard and leaves the likes of Harry Potter much behind. In fact, every literate person with internet connectivity has legendary Aladdin‘s lamp at his disposal. Internet opens doors and windows of information to help you explore the depths of the micro world and the expanse of the macro world. Here you go for any topic and lo and behold, the fairy tale treasures of knowledge present their pearls for you to make a pick.

For knowledge to happen good education is fundamental. It feeds imagination and intellect. It enables you to be informed about things, which were never in the radar of your mind scape.  The learning ability empowers you to understand and cope with life situations, think maturely and decide options freely. The awareness which only education imparts, allows you to weigh the multiple choices you have to steer your life. Moreover, the knowledge, acquired by you, is your power with which to influence others and it results in the cycling of information from one to the other. This is how knowledge multiplies.

Education is a prerequisite for success in any field under the sun. In under developed countries people’s participation in the affairs of their nations is possible only if awareness of world is assimilated via relevant education. In this regard, social networking sites are playing a major role in exchange of information, mobilizing people for concerted actions, highlighting causes and enlightening people about their rights and responsibilities.

Knowledge fuels social movements. The surge of Arab spring protests that jolted the entrenched regimes in those countries is the case in point. Wall Street demonstrations in New York against social and economic inequality are an example too.  

In the overpopulated counties like India, educating women shall be able to have control over their bodies, in the sense that they can restrict the number and manage the spacing of their children. Literacy will enable them to take recourse to family planning measures and have better information about nutrition and health issues.

The idea of self-knowledge in improving your chances of a more purposeful life needs attention. No wonder Socrates said, “Know thyself” and much before that Hindu scriptures critiqued the quest for self-knowledge. The desire to ‘know thyself’ is timeless. However, to achieve it is as difficult as it is easy to spell.

The upside is that even the plain consciousness of the need for such knowledge spurs you to make inroads to understand your personality.  In the process, your strengths, abilities, core beliefs and your limitations, which form a part of the knotted jungle within you, take shape as separate entities for you to explore dispassionately. The knowledge of the self will enhance your capacities for self-improvement and service to others. The freshly roused voice inside you will balk at the violation of your personal values at your work place or in numerous other situations in life. The approach boosts self-confidence and cements the validity of the ethics as a way of life.

Plato the Greek philosopher opined that the essence of knowledge is self-knowledge. Yet to deconstruct the psychic layers of the complex human mind is beyond any mortal being. Moreover, this universal search for decoding the mystery of the self has gone on through ages and will continue.

" ......To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heartthrobs of humanity through the centuries......"  Helen Keller