Ideally, we go to school to learn, so too, we have parents and peers to learn from, in this, there is the hope that having learnt well, that thereby our increase of knowledge becomes beneficial to us as well as to others. Additionally, we also receive knowledge by applying ourselves diligently to the world at large by reading, contemplating, thinking, discussing, and pursuing ideas, and thereby by doing so we are able to discover truths that previously had been hidden from us, and it thereby becomes our responsibility to take this knowledge and to express such in order to help enlighten others.
Though it may seem like splitting hairs, when things are discovered, such as, for instance, oxygen, this oxygen already existed, so that the discovery of and the importance of oxygen, is not so much discovered, but acknowledged and therefore eventually understood in its importance to the sustainability of life on earth. This signifies that for the most part, what we call knowledge, is in actuality the unveiling of truths that had previously been obscured, or hidden from our minds, and that therefore the greatest pursuit that mankind can have, is to utilize our intelligence in a manner that will increase our knowledge for the betterment of all, by applying our minds to the unveiling of universal truths, especially when such an unveiling aids in removing and eradicating wrong theories and corrupted knowledge that is damaging to the good of civilization.
This so signifies that the mind and our perceived bodily needs do not necessarily conform to one another. That is to say, that those that live for pleasure, especially as the greatest pursuit of them all, have wrongly placed their emphasis on the sensations of the physical form, while deemphasizing the thinking portion of their mind. Those that believe this, are the very ones, that live lives that may indeed have their pleasures, but so too find, that they are unable to escape from the cycle of such a pleasure pursuit, day by day, and wonder why they feel that such satisfaction that comes never seems to be satisfying enough.
On the other hand, our mind is able to pursue knowledge, of which the greatest of minds, pursues knowledge that is universal in nature, of which these minds are well trained and well focused, so that they will not give ground until they have discovered what has previously been undiscovered or wrongly discarded. That is the nature of progress, for those that want to progress, are not satisfied at the way that things are, for they see around them, all sorts of misery, poverty, ignorance, and injustice, and intuitively know that this cannot be the way that things should actually be, so they do not rest until they make a positive impact upon this world by bringing forth knowledge and thereby the positive working of that knowledge in fit, form, and function that such becomes a working aid for the world.
The knowledge that we seek, is unveiled to us, by our diligent pursuit of it, of which, we literally do stand upon the shoulders of previous giants, in order for mankind to progress from age to age, for when mankind insists upon resting on its own laurels and not beyond them, or has not the industry to improve itself, or degrades itself in senseless pursuits that minimizes the mind and knowledge, or the evil use of such knowledge, than the knowledge that we rightly need, becomes veiled.