I LOVE this quote!
There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge
That is curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others
That is vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve
That is love.
—St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Seems to me "serving" in this instance has a myriad of meanings. Anything we can learn to make someone happier, healthier, stronger, more personally empowered, a better person, more (legally) prosperous, more aware, enlightened, generous and accepting, including ourselves, falls into this definition.
As I've said often here, my goal is to learn *everything* before I leave this life. I guess I'll be around a long time - I have so much serving to do!
At your service!
That is curiosity.
There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others
That is vanity.
There are those who seek knowledge in order to serve
That is love.
—St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Seems to me "serving" in this instance has a myriad of meanings. Anything we can learn to make someone happier, healthier, stronger, more personally empowered, a better person, more (legally) prosperous, more aware, enlightened, generous and accepting, including ourselves, falls into this definition.
As I've said often here, my goal is to learn *everything* before I leave this life. I guess I'll be around a long time - I have so much serving to do!
At your service!
Labels: learning, loving, quoting, serving, St. Bernard of Clairvaux
posted by cp @ 6:40 PM
4 Comments:
At 8:45 PM,
Jay said…
Hi CP,
Here is a little poem or quote I wrote a couple years ago along those lines:
The day I die will be the happiest and saddest day of my life.
I will be relieved.
Happy because I will have served well enough to satisfy my existence.
Sad because I will be leaving my loved people.
J
At 3:50 PM,
cp said…
Thank you for sharing your poem, Jay.
Anyone who knows me well will understand this ...
The day I die will be the most rewarding and thrilling day of my life.
Rewarding because I can look back with pride on what I did while I was here and how I did it, and thrilling because I'd be so excited to see what's coming, what's next!
I'm one of those people who believes we'll reunite with all we truly loved and who truly loved us after the transition, including all our pets. CP
At 3:24 PM,
Jay said…
CP,
My fellow digressor! I hope you are right about the next plane of existence. I'm such a flaming agnostic it's annoying, but it's just the way I'm wired. That being said I must say I am really impressed with the current Dali Lama. I read in the late Carl Sagan's last book "The Demon Haunted World" that when he asked the Dali Lama if a central tenant of their faith were disproved by science, how would he respond. The Dali Lama responded without hesitation that in such a case Tibetan Buddhism would have to change. Then he added-with a twinkle-"It's going to be hard to disprove reincarnation." It's the few honest down to earth humane and reasonable leaders like the Dali Lama, that give me some hope of a gentler kinder world. The dogmatic conservative fundamentalists that take their positions without room for disagreement or even humor, are causing great harm.
J
At 3:39 PM,
cp said…
Like you, I think the Lama is da bomba!
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