Knowledge

Useful Knowledge is the Great Object of Our Desire and cannot everywhere be found. 

All Masons should pursue the quest for additional Knowledge in all subjects, more especially in the areas of the Seven Liberal Arts.

Many leaders in society are, or have been, Masons.  Perhaps they are leaders in society because of their desire to attain Knowledge. Perhaps knowledgeable men become Masons so that they can associate with other knowledgeable persons. There is no way to better yourself by hanging out with ignorant or stupid people.  Ignorance can be fixed but stupidity cannot.

Remember the old saying that "Knowledge is Power."  It is not that Masons desire power as such, rather that they wish to have knowledge of many subjects in order that they may assist mankind as well as themselves.

It is much more fun to communicate with knowledgeable people that with those who are ignorant.  It is not a good use of ones time to attempt communication with the ignorant unless it is to help them become less ignorant, and only then if they are willing to learn.  Free and Accepted Masons are usually willing to assist others in learning, if those people are also willing to learn.

It is hard to learn anything from a person who is ignorant on a topic. Many people are happy to remain ignorant.  If they wish to remain ignorant there is not much sense in attempting to educate them.  Way too many dollars are spent on attempting to impart Knowledge to those who do not wish to apply themselves to learning. As a teacher I have observed this waste of money way too often.

Having knowledge is not the same as having received an education.  Many people have gone to be educated at an institute of learning and have learned very little Knowledge, while others have not attended much school but have learned a lot of Knowledge on their own.  Some of the smartest most knowledgeable people I know have had very little formal education.  I respect them a lot more than those who have had a good 'education' but did not really learn anything because they did not apply themselves to learning even though they were given the chance to become more knowledgeable.  A college degree, or even a Masters Degree of Doctorate, does not mean a person is knowledgeable.  I have known people with no more than an eighth grade education who are more knowledgeable than others with a Doctorate in some subject.  A piece of paper showing that a person 'earned' a degree in education means very little other than it 'looks good' on paper.  "Earning" a degree often just means that they paid a certain amount of money to an institution for a piece of paper!

In America every young person is provided with the opportunity to acquire knowledge at the considerable expense of the taxpayer.  Way too many of our young people choose to reject this wonderful opportunity and choose to remain ignorant.  Having been a teacher of high school students for most of my adult life, I have seen this happen way too often.  I cannot understand why a young person, or an adult for that matter, would not wish to acquire more knowledge, especially when it is being provided for them at no cost to themselves. Others, their parents or the poor taxpayers, are paying for them to learn.  Their refusal to study and thereby learn is criminal and should be punished in some manner.  

One should never judge someone by the amount of formal education they have had, but rather by their ability, attitude, behavior and knowledge.

Some, if not all, religions often seem to wish to keep their members ignorant of all knowledge that does not promote their ideas.  This has led to the destruction of a huge amount of knowledge.  People without knowledge are a lot easier to brainwash and keep under the control of those are knowledgeable.

Some religions, most notably Islam and Christianity, especially the Catholic Church, have, at least in the past, worked very hard at destroying any knowledge that did not support their particular beliefs.  This attitude has probably caused a huge percentage of all previously learned knowledge to no longer be available for study and research.  These religions seem to have destroyed this ancient knowledge because that knowledge did not aid in them achieving their agenda of world domination and/or of simply having everyone use the same name for the Supreme Being.  Only the Supreme Being knows how much useful information has be destroyed by various religions for the simple fact that that that information did not support the agenda of that specific religion.

Ignorant people are more likely to blindly follow those who at least seem to have knowledge.

You should attempt to gain knowledge in all subjects so that you do not remain ignorant.

Knowledge is often represented in Freemasonry as light.

At one time there were considered to be three great parts of knowledge.  Thrice Great seems to have meant being well versed in the three great parts of knowledge, which are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy.

I have had foreign students ask me why America spends so much time and money on attempting to 'educate' those worthless students who refuse to put forth any effort to learn.  I have not been able to come up with a good answer other than that we often act in a stupid manner and try to convince ourselves that all people are worth our dollars even when they have proven themselves unworthy.  We need to stop this lunacy and save our money.  Perhaps we could just use those worthless people in our military as cannon fodder.  It is not the fault of our society that people fail.  Capitalism allows failure.

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Knowledge

"Knowledge is attained by degrees and cannot everywhere be found"

The most interesting and important knowledge is the knowledge of yourself.

It has been said that the concept of knowledge (gnosis) is the opposite of the concept of faith.

Faith is the backbone of the Catholic Church and a lot of Christianity.

Knowledge is the backbone of Freemasonry and Gnosticism.

Perhaps this has something to do with the hatred of the Freemasons by the Catholic Church.

As people gained knowledge they no longer needed a priest to interpret things for them.  The gaining of knowledge by the common person undermined the the authority, and need for, the priests and bishops of the established church.

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