Thread: Knowledge. Ends or means or both?

Both. It's interesting for its own sake, and it can be usefully applied.

Originally Posted by kidjordan

Why do you pursue knowledge? I haven't really answered this for myself yet.

Do you eat for the sake of the food? Do you breathe for the sake of the air? Why do you eat? Why do you breathe? Why do you seek a mate? Why do you seek to build or acquire a home? The ignorance of why we do things is called a lack of awareness.

The answer to the question is hidden in a metaphor -- prophets are taught in metaphor because it helps develope the mind--after all we negotiate our actions in accordance with what the mind produces. The name of the beast 666 -- resolves to the function of the human mind, the acquisition of information used to maintain and promote our existence--just like every environmental acquisition system of a living organism.

The human mind is evolving to do this job--it is in early stages of development. We are a young species. The purpose of acquiring knowledge is so that we can have life and have it more abundantly. It is not a hard idea at all.

I came here looking for a mate--not to shoot my mouth off or impress anyone. I am just a man trying to do a job. Live. I had imagined that my best chances would be among lucid dreamers--I think I missed something.

Unequivocally both. I think perhaps the latter is more important, though it tends to sprout from the former.

Mainly the latter...as a means to the former.

Knowing the truth better helps us to decide what we're going to do. If we want to attain some goal, knowing the truth about the state of the world will make us more likely to attain it. For example, if a cat has the goal to get inside the house to eat, and knows that a person will open the door if it scratches, the cat is more likely to attain the goal of getting inside than if it didn't know how to make the human open the door.

What about the drive to know the truth about things that we don't rely on to attain our goals? I'm still trying to figure this out. It might just be an evolutionary side-effect, so knowledge might become the goal. We crave knowledge like we do food.

Yes, on the whole, langauge is a mapping function. We not only map the past, but use the maps to plan a future.

Originally Posted by Philosopher8659

Yes, on the whole, langauge is a mapping function. We not only map the past, but use the maps to plan a future.

Map me all over.

Originally Posted by kidjordan

Why do you pursue knowledge? I haven't really answered this for myself yet.

You can forever ask and answer Why? Regardless, pursuing perpetuates onward perfunctorily as prescribed. Such questions as Why? provide only an illusory bolster. Toss Why? aside and raw cultivation prevails unhindered to finally propogate potentional for permeating your perfect, primitive nakedness posterior your eyes.

Originally Posted by InvisibleWoman

Map me all over.

Stop it, your getting me excited!

Well barring the nonsensical garbage brought into this topic, I find myself agreeing with those that say both. I find knowledge aesthetically pleasing. There is a beauty and consistency about it. It is enlightened and never boorish. The application of knowledge in the real world is like the perfection of nature. Sure a flower alone is beautiful but witness a flower in its environment and you are stunned with beauty.