Love for Knowledge

Introduction

The freedom to know is our greatest treasure. The transmission of realization in spiritual disciplines, the painstaking refinement of scientific methodology, the careful formulations of logic, and the revelations of art or mathematics all express a freely active knowledge. To awaken appreciation for such knowing at work in our awareness is to let the love of knowledge enter our lives.

Human knowledge has attained great heights, establishing a body of known facts far beyond the capacity of any one person to master. Yet our own active knowing remains undeveloped. How often do we truly realize that we are each unique human beings, alive in a world of constantly shifting forms, sensitively attuned to the universe that we experience? Without such appreciation for our situation and prospects, knowledge cannot easily come alive within our intelligence.

When we activate knowledge, we find wonder in the simple circumstance that our body is embodied in space, our experience unfolds in time, and our mind expresses ever-expanding 'knowingness'. We discover how to look beyond the standard modalities of knowledge and investigate at a more basic level the origins of the human capacity to perceive and to reason, and the purposes which those capacities might serve. Knowledge becomes more effective, communicating on all levels simultaneously, so that we can directly touch the heart of knowledge as an all-pervasive quality of being. As such knowing is distributed throughout the range of our personal experience, a healing process is activated that can profoundly affect the self and others.

Whatever the restrictions on our knowledge, we are already engaged in knowing. Inquiry and observation bring to that knowing clarity, appreciation, and intelligence. We find that we know more than we realize, and develop the strength to act on what we know, so that our actions bring benefit to ourselves and to the world. With greater appreciation for the riches that...