THE AGE OF KNOWLEDGE

        This is an age of intense curiosity and of knowledge—an age with various advantages but with more disadvantages. The rate at which knowledge is sought for and gained, which has become a predominant feature of this age, brings us to the conclusion that increasing curiosity is a key feature of civilization. This is historically true: when we consider the level of knowledge that existed in about 2500 B.C when the Egyptians were building pyramids, and the level of advancements obtained today

     Today, too many people just know too many things; and it is as if everybody wants to know everything. Even the little child wants to know as many things as he can. No knowledge is any longer sacred. What was previously true is now declared orthodox and new truths have emerged. The “traditional” models are now condemned both in the scientific, philosophical, and religious sphere. It seems, also, that it has become a duty for men of this age to look for means to flaw all existing paradigms of truth, and to create new standards, or, in most cases, no standards. The human being, deciding to learn everything, has now made everything his teacher.    

     Today, there are thousands of Aristotles and millions of Albert Einsteins.  There just seem to be too many stars. The very idea of being a star has therefore lost its original value. People each day want to dig into deeper truths, to know what caused what, and to predict what shall happen to what. Mysticism, spiritualism, quantum knowledge, is on the rise. The universe is no longer as big, and life is no longer as sacred as it used to be, because man thinks that he has finally arrived at the central truth about everything. This is an age when seminars, schools, books, and conferences of all forms abound. Inspirations run to and fro, and each hour, new books emerge to meet the demand of avid readers.

     The internet has served both as a bane and as a blessing in the realm of knowledge. Anybody can know almost anything just by the click of a button. As such, knowledge becomes cheaper as each day unfolds. The little stress which previously accompanied the acquisition of knowledge is eradicated to a great extent, and scholarly studies and research have become like a child’s play.

        Knowledge id good, and so should its age, but our knowledge heads rather towards the wrong direction. It is clear that the “knowledge” of the Age of knowledge is largely the self-centered kind of knowledge, which aims at making us better, making us richer and more knowledgeable. Knowledge has therefore increased because of the increasing desire to pursue power, fame, recognition and wellbeing. Due to the egoistic competition in the realm of knowledge, it becomes rare for people to openly accept that they don’t know. As such, there are many people who will never know that they really don’t know.

     Not so many people are interested in the knowledge of God, the creator; compared to the great number of people who are sacrificially ready to know about the mechanics of the world He created. People want to know science more than they are willing to know the giver of science—God. The want of knowledge has blinded our hearts from the lovelier and loftier things of life. Where knowledge increases at the expense of good virtues, disaster becomes imminent.