Knowledge is Power

There is not an iota of doubt that Knowledge is Power. Power originates from the state of fearlessness and fear exists till there is lack of knowledge. Knowledge is “the state of awareness and understanding gained from experience and education and acquiring specific information about the various phenomenon taking place around us. A well educated and well informed human being can make intelligent decisions based upon their understanding and awareness of everyday situations and overcome difficult condition prevailing at a particular time.

Power here should not be considered as brute power or muscle power. Well, power is said to be the ability or capacity to act or perform effectively and without knowing this ability to perform effectively is not possible at all.

This thought of considering knowledge as a power is not the outcome of present-day society. At the dawn of civilization, the man was a hapless creature. He was at the mercy of nature and was both the hunter and nomad. He used to live the life of a nomad and wandered from one place to another in search of food and shelter to protect him from predators and other dangers. At that time he was not aware of any natural phenomenon. Soon he started being resourceful by coordination his mind with his body. He started gaining knowledge by observing the phenomenon around him. He started making tools to do hunting effectively. Verbal communication also developed. Man discovered fire and also learnt to produce it as and when required.

With his improved knowledge and intelligence, the man understood the natural phenomenon and began harnessing the forces of nature for his benefits. In fact, those very phenomena like fire, wild animals etc. which were a cause of worry for him when he was ignorant became a source of comfort for him. Knowledge about these things makes his life comfortable. He did not have to live in constant fear now. He started living a settled life. One settled he had ample time to think about various interesting happening around him. He started thinking to unravel the mysteries of nature out of curiosity. He became aware that once unravelled these mysteries and gained knowledge about these, his life will improve a lot. As he unravelled nature’s mysteries, he no longer holds it in awe.

Even if we go by the modern society we can see that the leading countries of the world make use of their knowledge to gain the power and dominate the other not so knowledgeable countries. America is a perfect example, what made America the most powerful country in the world is known to everybody. This proves that knowledge is very much a necessity to gain Power.

It is invariably true that every person who is knowledgeable leads a successful life. A knowledgeable and educated person plays an important role in promoting a nations economic growth, as well. Knowledge gave him the feeling of strength and power. He realized that he could defeat a physically stronger adversary by using his mental prowess and skill. In his quest for knowledge, man has civilized himself and the community. His crusade in the field of science and technology has helped him to eradicate a number of diseases from the face of the earth. Inventions of various communication devices have shrunk the world into a global village and make the man all the more powerful as he can control the things in one part of the world while sitting in another part.

Even in the day to day life, there are various examples that can prove that knowledge is power. One such simple example of how knowledge is power can be seen in the fact that we pay our plumbers, electricians, physicians, mechanics, dentists, educationist and others professionals for their knowledge in their fields.

Sadly, with the passage of time, the man started using knowledge misusing knowledge. With the power, he gained from this knowledge he started interfering with the natural scheme of things and disturbed the ecological balance. He forgot to respect the law of nature. He started thinking that he has become the ultimate master of the universe owing to his power. He started making materials of mass destruction to compete with each other.  He forgot that the weapons of mass destruction which he had developed could annihilate the very knowledgeable mankind. Because of his intellect, man is now posing a threat to the existence of the flora and fauna and that of this fellow being on the earth. Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombing during the Second World War is the perfect example of it. The recent tsunami in Japan followed by the explosion in nuclear reactors can also be a perfect example of the destructive use of power obtained through the knowledge by mankind.

The man has become egotistical and claims that knowledge is the power which is true to some extent too. It is power only if used in a judicious manner. Our religious scriptures have preached since ancient times that original knowledge is the knowledge of the self. It is the self-knowledge which gives man moral and spiritual powers to withstands up’s and down’s in the life.

Man cannot make a thing happen according to his will despite gaining all his knowledge. He is still at the mercy of forces of nature and nature keep on reminding him about it every now and then.

So it can be said that in spite of all his knowledge, even today, he is a helpless creature and a victim of chance and fate. Knowledge has certainly given him the power and this is a fact, but he still requires the much-needed wisdom to use it for the benefit of mankind.