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Alps Upon Alps : Knowledge

 Learning, a lifelong journey that never ends.

For the one who hasn't begun that journey, it is easier to imagine himself so far traveled.

When he actually starts packing his belongings, arranging for a carriage, and making the first few steps, everything starts to become clearer.

He realizes that he still has too much land to cover, too many unknowns awaiting him.

The journey is interesting, alright, filled with discoveries of different peoples, different plants, animals, cultures, but one just can't seem to see the end of it, as Pope said, 'Alps upon Alps unfold.'

It is a journey of humility, not pride.

An endeavour that magnifies our vulnerability, not invincibility.

It is a journey that carves weapons for destroying ignorance, wielding them to fuel further hunger for learning. 

The more we learn, the more our weaknesses as humans we can perceive in our imagination, until we realize, like the great Socrates, that we know nothing. 

Better he who knows that he knows nothing, than he who knows not that he knows nothing but thinks he knows something.

'As I think, therefore I am' by Descartes doesn't apply to knowledge, for knowledge has no facets, no other doors and windows. You either know or you don't. You can't 'will' yourself into being knowledgeable; you have to pay the price.

It is a path with pitfalls, for the balance of curiosity and logic is crucial. Many people have allowed their appetites and delusions of grandeur to finesse them into disregarding millennia of thoughts and research by thinkers, and they paid for it. 

It is a journey that demands the most from us. Some lose their families, some their lives. It is a drug like any other - giving you the most life and taking it as well. 

When used in moderation though, one can ascend to the heights of kings; for knowing the systems of the universe, the joints and screws that power it, is quite priceless.

The universal rule, however, is that we are in a lifelong deal with knowledge, showing up each day, and in return, it will murder our arrogance and nurture our humility. Perhaps even after death, for knowledge has been known to overshadow mortality.


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