In today’s world knowledge has literally become a powerful weapon, so much so that people say that if there is a world war again, then for the next war the most killer weapon will be knowledge.

It has now become a source of not just power but also to gain control over the world or worldly things.

We have now come to a stage where knowledge is requisite to have an understanding of ourselves, our minds, and our bodies.

So, let us deeply understand why we seek knowledge.

1. History of Seeking Knowledge

So, why do we seek knowledge? Humans have been seeking knowledge since time immemorial when the first man was alive.

He must have been working on acquiring knowledge to live his everyday life, hunt, protect, and finally procreate.

They needed an understanding and awareness of their surroundings, the environment, and the entire world around them to survive and strive.

When we go back in time, we will see that the pursuit of knowledge initially was inclined more towards spiritual and religious paths.

Since there was not a lot of civilization and lives were simpler compared to today, they wanted more knowledge about gods and the cosmos, as they believed that this is the only guiding power.

The manner of gathering information was also different, there was no internet browsing people would come together and understand things while making everyone else aware around them.

Everyone taught others about life based on their personal experiences and it was like a small ecosystem that connected everyone, where all were learning and almost all were teaching.

With changing times and modern days ahead, the entire perspective of knowledge and tools for acquiring the same have been drastically changed. The sources of knowledge are now in abundance and their availability has become very easy.

For example, what started with physical libraries has now entered a world where you have an entire library access on your mobile phone which you can carry anywhere at any time.

With so much progress in technology and understanding of science, there is a whole new avenue of the world now available to explore which was earlier unknown and untouched.

There is now a lot to keep up with, and there is a tremendous increase in how much people are educated, learned, and aware. This is primarily a reason why we seek knowledge in the first place.

2. Reasons for Seeking Knowledge: Why Do we Seek Knowledge?

2.1. Personal Growth

This undoubtedly is the primary criterion for seeking knowledge of any form, we as humans operate in a form that we constantly want to do better.

We want to do new things, understand more about life and ourselves, and have a worldly view of everything around us.

Having learned skills or acquired knowledge, we get better at our tasks, develop a sense of confidence, and become better at decision-making.

It leads to the overall development of character, helps us become more creative, and makes us better at problem-solving.

2.2. Professional Development

After we have focused on making ourselves a better version of ourselves, our second goal is to do the best or achieve the best from what we are into professionally.

We strive towards getting better field knowledge, understanding the applications better, and performing our tasks with better efficiency and accuracy.

Staying up to date with new improvements in science and technology is actually the most important act of why do we seek knowledge in this aspect.

2.3. Social Advancement

Now that a person has grown personally and professionally, they want to be their best in the society that they are operating in.

To get a good position we have to build a good understanding of everything around us and all people who are living with us, because like Darwin said the fittest will survive.

So, fitness in today’s time is not just figured out with physical fitness but mental, emotional, and social too.

3. Challenges of Seeking Knowledge

Although we have explored the benefits of seeking knowledge which includes,

• improvement in communication;
• better delivery of ideas, and as a whole better relationship with one and all;
• a clear understanding of pros and cons which lead to perfect implications of varied circumstances and better decision-making;
• and lastly a much more vivid understanding of the world around us which helps to come down to a better position socially and physically as well.

We have to look the other way round as well and understand what are the challenges with the same.

Although a very important part and parcel of life sometimes acquiring knowledge becomes a big problem, the process is very tedious and time-consuming.

Availability of resources also hinders the process sometimes due to various reasons like geographical locations, access to the internet, or insufficient funds.

The most difficult among all however is the whole time, effort, and expense required for constant upgradation of knowledge; that too with a standard quality of data which is reliable.

All this is why sometimes we question why do we seek knowledge.

4. Final Thoughts

In conclusion to why do we seek knowledge, we can say that knowledge is a very important part of our everyday lives and it helps us to do and achieve better.

It helps us to become better individuals and work more efficiently in all aspects of our lives, and if we actually look around from it and move towards ignorance we will realize that we are missing a large part of our lives.

If we do not learn and explore more we will be stuck at certain places in our lives mentally, emotionally, and physically and we will stop experiencing growth.

To learn and exhibit new things we have to change and choose the difficult path sometimes, with the belief that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that light is the only enlightening we need in our lives.