Knowledge Is Not a Weapon

The reason people acquire knowledge is to outsmart others. Or win political and historical debates online. They collect facts like trophies, ready to brandish in an argument. But that is the antithesis of why you should acquire knowledge. It appears the more facts a person accumulates, the more insufferable they become to everyone around them. If you have no inclination to gain the upper hand over others, there seems to be no reason to acquire knowledge at all. I say this because every time I am caught reading history, people ask me — but what are you going to do with this? Then they expect an answer, as if it is my duty to justify why I am reading a good book. They ask because they expect a purpose from me, as though knowledge only counts when deployed against a crowd. They aren't entirely wrong in their assumption. They have never felt the real power of knowledge — the humility it instils, the quiet wisdom it cultivates over time. The only use they have witnessed is either in…