Humankind has accumulated generation upon generation of knowledge, the culmination of which is the vast and useful technological array we see everywhere in modern society. Despite this great accumulation of knowledge and technology, we still suffer from starvation and war. The difference between the past and the present is the difference between throwing rocks and shooting missiles. We are still in conflict. Suffering on a fundamental level hasn’t ceased. But we nevertheless persist in the notion that if we just amass a bit more knowledge, we’ll all be o.k. Maybe a new philosophy will do the trick, or a new system of government. But all of this has been tried many times. Knowledge builds on the past and has its place. Wisdom is beyond time. It’s the direct perception of reality as it is. And in this direct seeing of what is lies the potential of transformation–a transformation that is not merely a redecoration of the past but a transformation of humanity that embodies the eternally new.H.E. Davey
About This Quote
The idea that "the accumulation of knowledge and technology has not yet brought peace and prosperity to the world" is wrong. In the past, people used to live in poverty and suffer from widespread disease. Today we have cures for the diseases which used to kill millions of people and we have machines that can feed us all. We have medical teams that can go into a war zone and save the lives of people who would otherwise die there.
We have technologies that can provide clean water and food to everyone without having to worry about starving. If this is not an example of how knowledge and technology can bring peace and prosperity to society, I don’t know what is.
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