Why is the human craving for knowledge so insatiable? Is it because we really desire to know things for our own personal interest and intellectual fulfillment? No, we seek knowledge so that we can impose the fact that we ‘know’ onto the rest of the populous, and thus receive recognition and reassurance for it. No matter how hard we attempt to suppress our instincts, and treat our intellects modestly, we are all – unless miss-wired – narcissistic know-it-alls by nature; whether it’s to our benefit or detriment all depends on context. You may not feel that that is the reason why you love reading books and watching documentaries so much, but at the most fundamental biological level, it is.
Our unique human need to know everything that we possibly can about anything stems from our primitive need to know everything that we could about the environment that we once lived in: the food sources, dangers, escape routes, etc. This knowledge was once critical to our survival as a species, and so those who possessed it – those who craved it, and went out of their way to acquire it – were viewed as valuable members of the community, and thus received much praise and power for it. They became our dominant pack leaders, and were granted initiative over food and reproductive rights. It is innately wired into our brains to question reality, explore it, and learn things from it, and then project what we believe to have learned upon the people around us; and that has translated very evidently into the way we act within our society today. It’s the reason we have philosophy, and thus science, which has lead to our greatest architectural, technological and medical achievements. It’s also the reason we have art: just watch the way a child – or genius painter for that matter – so fervently explores the canvas: “What would happen if I added a little red over here?” What kind of immensely fulfilling feeling can you imagine Pablo Picasso as having had when seeing the reactions from people to his latest contribution to the world of art? The same feeling primitive man had when he presented the tribe with a fresh kill.
When you want to learn, it is because you want to proclaim to others what you have learned, and subconsciously (and sometimes not so much) receive applause for the knowledge that you have to offer; a feeling that you have contributed something to the community. This is why philosophy has historically – contrary to the essence of the term – been so dogmatic. It is because those great philosophers who have been credited with innovating the field of thought – whether justifiably or not – have tended to impose their philosophical views upon the masses, with the expectation of receiving recognition or appreciation for it: think enormous sects like Platonism. (Try agreeing with an ego on an intellectual opinion, but claiming that you came to it independently to him: either you don’t understand him, or he’s changed his mind: It’s his knowledge, not yours – so keep away.) But because we’ve advanced so far as a civilization as not to need to worry so much on the individual level about immediate environmental dangers, this urge we have to acquire and spread information can run amok in many different ways, resulting in, as just mentioned, philosophical cults; or more dangerously, religious or political indoctrination.
The most narcissistic intellects tend to be philosophers, preachers and politicians, because they don’t attempt to override their animalistic urge to impose their subjective ‘knowledge’ upon others. Narcissists have always been necessary leaders over the course of our history (the dominant pack leaders I mentioned earlier) because of this very reason. But because it’s so easy for dangerous doctrines and misinformation to spread in our society today, these intelligent narcissists and the influence they possess can become very cancerous. Where we have an innate urge to learn and transmit knowledge, we also, as would be expected, have sheeplike tendencies to centre our lives around those who we believe to possess knowledge and resources that we view as important (particularly the more common amongst us), and so we often allow ourselves to be beguiled by false facts and axioms: some of the more concerning of modern times being religion, the ant-vaccination and anti-GMO cults, as well as hyperbolic nationalism in some select countries.
At the end of the day though, this self-centred, aggrandizing trait of desperate knowledge seeking for the purpose of recognition from society is the reason we are where we are as a civilization; the reason we’re in a position where we’re able to seek out knowledge that doesn’t have any immediate impact on our survival as a species: knowing for the sake of knowing. Everything that you see around you – every school, hospital, car and gadget – is a product of this avid craving and dissemination of knowledge. It’s the reason we’re able to indulge in our childlike creativity, and produce beautiful masterpieces of art, literature and music. And for that reason alone, we need to continue seeking knew knowledge through our insatiable, primitive drive for it, and preaching what we claim to have learned for all to hear – but with the openness and humility of accepting and appreciating the expected objection and criticism that we’re all bound to face.
-RA
Thoughts of Ra 