Essay on Knowledge / Knowledge is power

Long and short essays on Knowledge / Knowledge is power for students.

Essay on Knowledge (541 words)

Knowledge, as the proverb ‘scientia potentia est’ contends, is indeed power, but it is only wisdom or discriminating intelligence that enables one to exercise it judiciously. In the past, our great leaders chose, with their wisdom, to exercise power with selfless altruism, and invested in the future by igniting minds, and not the fires of hatred, discrimination and divisiveness. It is this wisdom that hails the spirit of our country, carrying forth the flame of enlightenment, the plurality that permeates our country is evinced not simply in the multiple languages of expression, but also in the multiple modes of expression (poetry. short stories. essays. micro Fiction and nano writing), diverse opinions, and the many eclectic achievements and talents on display.

Along with the pride, comes additional work and responsibilities of maintaining the name, fame and fire of what W.B. Yeats has described as ‘passionate intensity’ within our beings towards this higher purpose even while some lack all conviction. The idealists, ‘full of passionate intensity’ perhaps represented the ‘worst’ or a doomed lot in the twentieth century, an Age of anxieties, wars, and depression – both psychological and economic.

Yet, we are well-placed in the twenty-first century look to form a positive millennial era, and know better. Idealism, fused with practical wisdom, has never been more relevant. The lessons begotten of past history, however must be remembered, as the fabric of wisdom is woven through the loom of time.

The term, given by Charles Darwin, is oft explained by his phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, and as Darwin observes. It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. You have to be change-makers, and work towards self-renewal, whether intellectually or culturally.

The modernity of today becomes the tradition of tomorrow, and our pursuit of creating a tradition of excellence, to draw on the words of Lord Tennyson, has been ‘to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

T.S. Eliot. a venerable critic has warned in his essay ‘Tradition and the individual Talent’ that ‘if` the only Form of tradition, of handing down, consisted in following the ways of the immediate generation before us in a blind or timid adherence to its successes, “tradition” should be positively discouraged. We have seen many such simple currents soon lost in the sand; and novelty is better than repetition. Tradition is a matter of much wider significance. It cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour…the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the greatness of the past. but of its presence. Our hard work has only just begun. But this history is one with our present, in the new responsibility of a continued quest of renewal for the future.

We are more aware of our vision of our great leaders than ever before. While we are continuing the historical legacy of excellence and achievement, we are also exploring new ideas to sustain this tradition. Some of these may succeed, while others may not, but the ceaseless quest to evolve and perform should remain consistent with your vision. To translate a French proverb, “The more things Change, the more things stay the same’.