Some people say knowledge is power...
Some people say it is a weapon...
and then there are those who say...that knowledge is light.
Clearly there s a significant difference between the first two characterizations and the last one.
It just struck me a few days ago that people characterize knowledge in such a way that it often seems like a talisman...an amulet to ward off evil...but also bearing a somewhat pernicious quality. Power as well as weapons are (no pun intended) double-edged swords...they are used in the defensive rather than the offensive. I can see that knowledge protects one from the harm or dangers of ignorance, but ignorance seems rather a dark abyss than an enemy whom you need power to overcome and weapons to battle with, no?
Knowledge is light...Now that one leaves me scratching my head. Of course, it sounds nice and wonderful...poetic really, but where's the protective aspect of the first two characterizations? Something sounds inherently more benign and more attractive in knowledge being portrayed as light than it being portrayed as a weapon or power. I'm not sure what it is though...
It's at the tip of my tongue....
knowledge has a certain ... je ne sais quoi.
ReplyDeleteand ignorance is bliss :o)
ReplyDeletenice contrast. this can mean a lot of things.
ReplyDelete