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Question: Isn't it a sad fact of life that we spend a lifetime acquiring knowledge that we'll take into our graves!?---
--- and in that place it will signify absolutly nothing!?Www@QuestionHome@Com


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Yeah!. It is!. It seems to me that it's one of the most unfortunate compromises of human existence, that our lifespan is as short as it is, and our generations don't overlap enough to maintain and expand knowledge as well as we could!. Considering how long it takes, just to reach half our capacity for thinking and appreciating! I was just thinking the other day, about how my memories of my grandfather would be the last living trace of him, him and his ninety-two years of fascinating life and the wisdom that came from it!. My little daughter will only see an old photo of him!.

I'm trying to console myself with the idea that our knowledge becomes condensed into values, which we transmit effortlessly to our children and others we influence, and in them it will be put to better use than we can put it, because the world is changing even as the concrete is setting in my own point of view!. We must need it like this, to be as adaptable as we are, even if we don't progress as well!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Take this with a grain of salt because there are to many scholars out there that say different!.
They say the closer you get to knowingness in this life, it puts you that much closer in the next life and so on until you finally make it back home for good!.
Have you heard of dejavue, or children who are born knowing things that are humanly impossible to know at that time for that child, or how do you explain prodigy's!? And the list goes on!.!.!.!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If you think it's sad, I think it's just as equally as sad -- if not more -- to not do so!.

Learning helps you cope and adapt!. Certainly with globalization these days, we need that! Life is hard as is!. Learning helps us deal!. Helps us be "better"!. Gives us something to do!. Sure, we'll all die!. Sure, all of it may mean nothing in the end but what do you think we should do 'til that time comes!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

Then why bother spending a lifetime acquiring knowledge in the first place!? The only knowledge required in this lifetime is to realise that we are created by God and for God; and God never ceases to draw us to himself!. Only in God will we find the truth and happiness we never stop searching for!.If you don't believe in God ,then your life is one big void!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Who says the knowledge we acquire will disappear in our graves!? Einstein is still lighting the way into space and Darwin opens new doors in biology everyday!. Even people you've never heard of, like Dai Vernon, are still having a massive effect on people how shared his hobby (or rather, his profession, my hobby)!.

Knowledge lives! It is the only true form of immortalityWww@QuestionHome@Com

who says we take it to our graves!? every bit of knowledge we have gets sifted and used in ways we probably don't even understand yet, but I really doubt it's sitting there useless!. don't underestimate the power of knowledge (corny as it sounds)!. it really may help you (or someone else) one day!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Your knowledge will only go the grave and signify nothing, only if you don't share it !!
There are many ways to share knowledge: Keep a journal,
paint, tell stories, write poetry, become a mentor, teach, etc!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

To live life and be knowledgeable is much better than to live ones life as an idiot!.

If a man is an idiot, he will be constantly ridiculed from his childhood until beyond his grave!.

Not to be born in this life is better than hearing from someone calling you as an idiot!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

You can learn from the knowledge that you gain and you can share it with others!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Well we procreate and pass on our beliefs as well!.
That is how they live, always in memories!.
Sometimes memories are painful!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Share it!.You can't take it with you!.?Www@QuestionHome@Com

I am learning every second of my life, awake or asleep!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

no!. what we do here on earth is everything about life!. the magnitude of influence we could bear society even after we die!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

that is why you should share your knowledge for others to learn by after you are gone!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

If I acquire knowledge one day!? I bestow it the next!?!Www@QuestionHome@Com

Who says we stay in our graves!?Www@QuestionHome@Com

No, death doesn't scare me!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Personally, I enjoy being informed and knowledgeable!. I don't believe life is worth living if you do not have the ability to discover everything and anything that eases our curiosity!.

Based on your reasoning, you can also say "Isn't it sad that we are born to eventually die!?"

Learning, as well as many other aspects of life, is a means of living, rather than merely waiting to die!.

--------------------------------------!.!.!.

big j, I understand your thoughts!. Especially in today's world, where virtually everyone has written a book and shared a speech, passing on knowledge is quite unsubstantial except to the few that is your audience!.

In that sense, it is pretty sad!. It's as if its final use is when we draw our last thought and breath before death, and sigh in relief of a fulfilling life!.

The only remedy would be going Hollywood with such wisdom and knowledge, a drastic and oft unsuccessful notion!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It is sad, for sure!. One reason is that when we are young we cannot take good advice, mostly because it usually comes from!.!.!.old people!.

Our society does not reward respect for the elderly, mostly, the young consider us a burden!. We require more medical attention, can't run fast, pay as intensely as we used to, look as good, (if we ever looked good), or match the income of young people with well paying jobs!. It is easy to understand their myopia since they are blessed with the inability to see much of their own future!.

I've heard young people complain about social security, he$$ I have complained about it as well, albeit for different reasons!.

But!. you're right, we spend years learning a specialty and unless we are famous or own controlling stock, the more we know the less we are listened to!.

I think is says a lot more about our society than it does about those of us with some age on us!.

As an aside, this may be one of the reasons YA is so successful, us old f#rts get a chance to wax eloquently!

Who listens!? lolWww@QuestionHome@Com

Knowledge is for the bitter and vain!. Man's vanity at its finest - thinking - nay - BELIEVING that being able to recite trivialities of our own creation is really something so divine!.

Knowledge is only worthwhile for one's connection with the subject, be it quantum physics or the America's Next Top Model lineage!. The important thing is how people relate to the information they learn, as well as how they relate to the world through the perspective of what they know!. And that's what carries on!. Nothing Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde or ****, even Bill O'Reilly ever said or wrote is of any significance it all!.!.!. it's how people internalize it, and use those feelings to change the world around them that matters, and that sets a cycle of consciousness that is always evolving (ie: the "next step" isn't possible without the step before)!.

And I'm so sick of this "your grandfather, blah blah blah" nonsense that older people always use!. Anyone who knows anything about history knows we've always been ****** on some level!.!.!. honor and hard work were never *real* values!.!.!. just made up nostalgic values to escape the reality of the here and now!. People have always been angels and/or devils!. Nothing's changed, only *evolved*!. And *my* grandfather is a schizophrenic prick who's said and done god knows how many awful things, thankyouverymuch!. And I don't think Stalin was terribly honorable, and I'm sure they would've nuked each other in the Crusades if they had the technology!. So people are the same!.!.!. that the new devices we have to screw each other over now can be directly attributed to the ideas and inventions of generations past, not the younger generations (unless you care to argue that we're all mad genius babies who invented such things before we were even potty-trained)!. And it's knowledge that's made the current world (and all our "efficient ways!.!.!.") possible!.

EDIT:

You're absolutely ridiculous!. Do you seriously believe the things you say!? People live in South Central LA!.!.!. they spend long lives there!. I've lived in St!. Louis, a ghetto of ghettos, and never had a problem!. I'd say the only thing different now than ages ago is media saturation/sensationalism!. We're all more connected to and aware of everything happening now!.!.!. doesn't mean things are changing!. The Crusades were genocide!. The Holocaust was genocide!. Spanish conquistadors and European settlers committed mass genocide!. The Bible talks about various genocides!. British colonists committed genocide in Australia, India, etc!.!.!.

Ever read crime stories from Victorian England!? What about the public records those stories were based on!? Or the former common practice of children being locked in closets as punishment!? What about the Western Frontier!? Shootings were common!.!.!. it was "law"!. What about the atrocities commited by the Han Dynasty 1,800 years ago!?

The crimes happening now have happened since humanity became "civilised"!. Your knowledge, or lack thereof, is only detecting the media saturation making us aware of everything that 100 years ago no one would have heard about!.

And my argument certainly wasn't that man is only important to himself!. It was that knowledge is a continual process - an evolutionary process - that's collective!. What we learn as individuals serves a greater good!.!.!. it gives a foundation for new knowledge, and thus new understanding, or at least new sequences of events leading to future understanding!. Though to some extent, we are only important to ourselves!.!.!. but what's so wrong with that!? What's wrong with feeling connected to each other and the world around us!? That's kinda the point of life, no!?

That said, I guess knowledge is important!. It helps us understand the world around us!. Case in point - you obviously have very little knowledge, and you're seemingly unable to understand the world you live in!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Why does everything always have to be about "up there", "over there", "outside of me", "after this"!? I really don't get it!. The knowledge you acquire here would be irrelevant if we went anywhere else after death and irrelevant if we just fade out!. If there is a god he is more concerned with you celebrating now, what is here, what is beautiful, what makes you happy!. My favorite thing is to learn!. Anything!. And I care not what happens to my brains when I'm gone!.

One thing I have always thought to be interesting was that Planarians transfer information chemically!. When they consum each other they take on the experiences and knowledge of the meal!.Www@QuestionHome@Com