{"id":4055,"date":"1972-11-01T01:00:00","date_gmt":"1972-11-01T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/november-1972-vol-53-no-11-the-urge-to-know\/"},"modified":"2022-11-28T00:38:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-28T00:38:32","slug":"november-1972-vol-53-no-11-the-urge-to-know","status":"publish","type":"rbc_letter","link":"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/november-1972-vol-53-no-11-the-urge-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"November 1972 &#8211; VOL. 53, No. 11 &#8211; The Urge to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"layout-column-main\">\n<p class=\"boldtext\">Most people who read this Letter                     are no longer under educational discipline. They wish to go                     on learning things, but the urge to know has taken the place                     of the compulsion to study. They feed their minds continually                     with facts, thoughts and experiences, and as a result they                     are prepared to assess situations, plan actions, and cope                     with crises.<\/p>\n<p> Other people, unmoved by the urge to know, are confused                     by conflicting arguments and tranquillized by propaganda.                     They misinterpret the causes and effects of today&#8217;s events                     because they have not a sufficient store of knowledge by which                     to judge them.<\/p>\n<p>The transition from confusion to illumination is made by                     asking questions and finding answers so as to steadily increase                     one&#8217;s store of information. Charles Steinmetz, called &#8220;the                     wizard of General Electric&#8221;, said &#8220;There are no foolish questions                     and no man becomes a fool until he has stopped asking questions.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Curiosity is one of the characteristics of a vigorous intellect.                     It is inspired, in its best sense, by a genuine love of knowledge.                     It is the spirit of intellectual inquisitiveness that sparks                     lively thought. It is the secret strength of those who get                     to know so that they are able to reason on their own from                     the facts they learn.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone finds himself wondering about things, and the intelligent                     person has learned that the best way to handle wonderment                     is to go looking for an answer or an explanation. He does                     not think of the time spent in the search as having been stolen                     from his leisure. It is tragic when someone allows the excuse                     &#8220;lack of time&#8221; to limit his thinking and cripple his understanding.                     The man who was tutor to Nero said &#8220;Illiterate leisure is                     a form of death, a living tomb.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Age is not an obstacle<\/h3>\n<p>Knowing enough is not a destination one ever arrives at,                     but every birthday milestone should mark an addition of knowledge                     and wisdom. The sculptor Michelangelo, at ninety, having lost                     his eyesight, ran his hands over statues in St. Peter&#8217;s Cathedral                     and exclaimed: &#8220;I still learn&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>While drawing upon the intellectual capital we have amassed                     during the early part of our lives, we need to keep up to                     date so as to know what the new generations are talking about.<\/p>\n<p>It was at one time a common stratagem for parents to leave                     books open on tables where children would come upon them and                     be attracted by them. Perhaps in these days the young people                     should place their high school or university books, open at                     interesting illustrations, to entice their parents and grandparents                     to read.<\/p>\n<p>Following up the urge to know protects us against fixation,                     that deadening force in business and private life. Mental                     rigidity is a foe to be brought out into the open and destroyed.                     The alternative is to freeze into bigotry and prejudice and                     out of date ideas, and then to wonder some day how life got                     away from us.<\/p>\n<p>Living can be drab and meaningless for the person who has                     failed to learn that not talking and arguing but observing                     and ascertaining are the distinguishing characteristics of                     the intelligent human being. To develop activity of thought                     is to make mental progress toward scholarship, and that is                     one of the greatest delights a person can achieve.<\/p>\n<p>Long ago, someone rubbed two sticks together and brought                     fire into being; try now rubbing two ideas together. Compare                     things with one another, notice wherein they agree and differ,                     and spark a new idea.<\/p>\n<p>To wake up mentally, to rub thoughts together, to fan the                     spark of a new idea into flame: these are experiences available                     to everyone who satisfies his urge to know. He will enjoy                     reading a book which provides some line of disputation on                     which he may exercise his critical faculties, thus combining                     his natural endowment of skill, brain-power and wit with the                     illumination given by new knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>The more you get to know, the more likely you are to derive                     pleasure from such an awakening, and the more likely you are                     to make discoveries or link together ideas in a way that will                     add to your life happiness and increase your skill in solving                     problems.<\/p>\n<p>Geniuses differ from other people because they have developed                     and intensified their ability to bring ideas together and                     give birth to new thoughts. They have, of course, laid by                     a big store of facts, but they have also amplified their perceptivity                     so that they can interpret the raw facts, add something of                     their own, and innovate.<\/p>\n<h3>To reach excellence<\/h3>\n<p>The urge to know is the desire within us to reach the excellence                     that it is in our power to attain. Adding a little knowledge                     to our stock builds self-confidence and strengthens us in                     our readiness to seize opportunity. It is worth repeating                     that a little knowledge is not a dangerous thing: the danger                     is in not being aware that it is little.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Knowledge&#8221;, in the 15th century morality play <em>Everyman<\/em>,                     says: &#8220;Everyman, I will go with thee and be thy guide, in                     thy most need to go by thy side.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Our need for the companionship of knowledge has increased                     and is increasing. Every citizen in a democracy is called                     upon to pass judgment on proposals relating to commerce, public                     health, national defense, economics, law and morals. How much                     better fitted he is to make sound decisions when he has background                     knowledge. At the very least, he knows that these are not                     new problems, but have been dealt with, wisely or foolishly,                     by citizens in the past.<\/p>\n<p>Why do we obey the urge to get to know things? Not only                     because knowledge is useful as an end, but because the act                     of gaining it enriches our minds and vitalizes our spirits.                     Knowledge does not have to be functional in order to be worth                     digging for. Sought for its own sake, knowledge gives rich                     gifts in abundance.<\/p>\n<p>To get to know, to get into the truth of anything, is a                     mind-elevating act. It was the Greeks who first cultivated                     the love of knowledge for its own sake. St. Thomas Aquinas                     brought this up to date when he wrote: &#8220;Of all human pursuits,                     that of wisdom is the most perfect, the most sublime, the                     most profitable, the most delightful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>All that mankind has done, thought, seen, felt, discovered                     and imagined, &#8220;the funded capital of civilization,&#8221; finds                     its way into books, and this is where your urge to know carries                     you. The choice is as wide as human nature. You may wish to                     delve into the history and the making of music or films or                     tapestry, the growth of democracy, human rights, the problems                     of adolescence, the rule of law, the anatomy of prejudice,                     or the proper use of language: they are all there, in books.<\/p>\n<h3>Polish your mind<\/h3>\n<p>Here is one way to associate with greatness, to polish your                     mind against the minds of others. It requires that you have                     interest. Interest is not in the book or event, but a faculty                     within us and it can be cultivated. Wherever we direct our                     curiosity, our urge to know, there we will find interest.<\/p>\n<p>There is a comforting quality about satisfying the urge                     to know, in that it contributes to serenity of mind. You are                     not seeking a formula by which to remodel your life, but a                     scale of values by which to guide your living. Reading helps                     to fill out with substantial content such abstract and sometimes                     perplexing ideas as right and wrong, justice and injustice.<\/p>\n<p>The urge to know about how to steer our craft will carry                     us into many branches of learning. One of the most attractive                     and exciting things about books is their variety, and to be                     broadminded in their selection helps to prepare a person to                     meet all the demands of business and social life, because                     it teaches him flexibility.<\/p>\n<p>To read varied books is to attain the feeling of being raised                     to a high point from which the landscape of earth makes sense.                     We perceive that the feelings that divide people arise from                     individual points of view, differing with their environment,                     education and culture, and their reactions to ideas and events.<\/p>\n<p>It is well known that men and women are not disturbed by                     things themselves but by the views they take of things. The                     great German artist, Holbein, painted a picture, now in the                     National Gallery, London, which has a curious patch in the                     foreground. Viewed from one position, and one position only,                     the patch is seen to be the representation of a skull.<\/p>\n<h3>A rich and wide store<\/h3>\n<p>Just as an invention is the outcome of a great many experiments,                     so a bright intellectual idea is the product of putting together                     bits and pieces of information and linking them with a vitalizing                     new thought.<\/p>\n<p>Imagination, invention and theory-building yield their princely                     triumphs to the person who has a rich and wide store of information                     &#8211; rich in its intrinsic value and wide in the sense that                     it is not confined to the commonplace affairs of his daily                     life and work.<\/p>\n<p>You cannot control inspiration. You cannot sit down, head                     poised on hand, as in Rodin&#8217;s sculpture of &#8220;The Thinker&#8221;,                     and say &#8220;I am going to be inspired&#8221;. But your chance of receiving                     inspiration at a critical moment is increased by multiplying                     the stock of impressions and ideas in your mind.<\/p>\n<p>Having read widely does not mean that you will have the                     solutions to problems on the tip of your tongue, but at least                     you will know where to look for them. Every human being needs                     a frame of reference, a comprehensive view of existence, to                     guide him in his thinking.<\/p>\n<p>Reading will lead you to look again at things you took for                     granted, and question them. You become many-sided and take                     long views; you are known and respected for your open-mindedness.<\/p>\n<p>Reading needs to be followed by thinking. Why not arrange                     for a rambling-thought hour once a week, not for idle dreaming                     but for scanning mentally the events, thoughts and ideas of                     the past seven days, associating them and forming a theory                     or evolving an hypothesis? The capacity to meditate upon what                     one has learned with some degree of understanding is a rewarding                     feature of satisfying the urge to know.<\/p>\n<p>This is a facility the human being has uniquely among animals:                     the ability to hold a thought in mind while he works out its                     implications. To think something through in that way is an                     act of creation that gives sheer delight.<\/p>\n<h3>What sort of books&nbsp;?<\/h3>\n<p>In providing a short list of books for someone starting                     to fulfil his urge to know, this <em>Letter <\/em>does not profess                     to name the &#8220;best&#8221; books but only &#8220;outline&#8221; books that will                     serve to give an over-all view and guide the reader into deeper                     study of topics that have particular appeal to him.<\/p>\n<p><em>Philosophy<\/em>. A philosopher is not a prophet with a                     message, but a lover of wisdom. The master philosopher, Socrates,                     said: &#8220;The man who has a ready inclination to taste of every                     branch of learning, and enters with pleasure on its study&nbsp;&#8230;                     this man we may with justice call a philosopher.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The philosophy a wise reader gets from books is not wholly                     speculative. It relates to life as we live it. Neighbours                     on a suburban circle set aside one night a week for reading.                     They took turns reading aloud from Epictetus&#8217;s <em>Teachings<\/em>.                     From the very first evening they were amazed by how relevant                     the principles were to the world today, and how the thoughts                     of Epictetus contributed to their understanding of current                     problems.<\/p>\n<p><em>Myths and fables<\/em>. When we were young we knew that                     there are ogres and witches and giants and Santa Claus. When                     we grew older we did not renounce these fantasies, but we                     modified them. Proverbs and maxims and moral lessons in fable                     form which functioned in the intellectual development of primitive                     people are still used today.<\/p>\n<p>Myths, fables and fairy tales are evidence of our long ago                     forefathers&#8217; efforts to penetrate the darkness of the unknown.                     At one time every myth was a valid truth: it was the most                     accurate statement possible on the basis of the known facts.<\/p>\n<p><em>Science<\/em>. Knowledge of the general principles and                     advances in science may be enjoyed by those who have neither                     the time nor the desire to master the details of any particular                     branch. There is great satisfaction in being able to see a                     few hand-breadths deeper into the meanings and causes of things.<\/p>\n<p>We need to learn enough about the bases of science so that                     we understand what developing science means for mankind. For                     example, here is a thought arising out of such meditation,                     given us by H. A. Overstreet in <em>The Mature Mind<\/em>: the                     inventions of science magnify the power of the immature no                     less than they do the power of the mature.<\/p>\n<p><em>Aesthetics<\/em>. Enthusiasm for any beautiful thing can                     exist only in a well-informed mind. This is why we should                     learn something about the various arts: when we pay attention                     to them they give insight which can enhance our level of living.                     Art and music are important in our lives, whether regarded                     as the special activity by which we apprehend beauty or as                     a means of communicating feelings, experiences, inspiration                     and ideals. One man made himself a cultural time budget. He                     set aside thirty of the 240 leisure hours in a month in this                     way: literature, 12 hours; art, 5 hours; drama, 5 hours; and                     music, 8 hours.<\/p>\n<p><em>Poetry<\/em>. Nearly everyone is a poet at heart, although                     his fingers do not guide his pen into lyrical measures. We                     may, indeed, live without poetry, but we cannot live as well                     or enjoy life so deeply. Poetry is the language of feeling,                     necessary to balance the intellectual in our mental make-up.<\/p>\n<p>In poetry, the right word counts. Poetry uses words that                     make things come alive in colour and intensity and urgency.                     For this reason, people who wish to enlarge their capability                     to say things neatly, clearly and exactly, make a practice                     of reading poetry.<\/p>\n<p><em>History<\/em>. How can anyone begin to understand himself                     or any other human being without acquaintance with the wisdom                     and folly of the past? To ignore history is as dangerous as                     it would be for a doctor to ignore the early symptoms and                     treat only what is evident today.<\/p>\n<p>The course of mankind&#8217;s progress has not been a straight                     line, but a tortuous path with long detours. Understanding                     gleaned from the record of how people answered the challenges                     on the journey up to now enables us to select what is vital                     in today&#8217;s problems and discard the incidental and the irrelevant.<\/p>\n<p>It is interesting to read an episode in history, big or                     little, and to apply one&#8217;s mind to it in the light of today&#8217;s                     knowledge. How could a threat have been better met? How a                     catastrophe averted? How a great opportunity seized and developed?<\/p>\n<p><em>Biography<\/em>. Dull men have been known to brush aside                     study of the lives of successful men on the grounds that the                     same conditions do not apply to them. Perhaps that is why                     they are dull. The usefulness of biography lies in the fact                     that in every man there is something which we may learn with                     advantage. His errors need not be repeated; his successes                     can be emulated. We can learn without the hardship and loss                     of time involved in experimenting on our own.<\/p>\n<p><em>Classics<\/em>. A classic is not a dry-rotted book but                     one that wears well. The test of literary merit is survival,                     which is itself an index of majority opinion. Here, in the                     classics, is the accumulated hoard of human wisdom: when you                     read them you are associating yourself with the greatness                     of the men who wrote them.<\/p>\n<p>To people who live in a society that is intoxicated with                     noises and pictures, the classics are at hand as refuges from                     the hubbub. In a great conversation with one another these                     books discuss the persistently nagging problems of men, and                     present to the reader valuable points of view concerning their                     solution.<\/p>\n<p>So relevant to today&#8217;s problems are the classics that you                     will find that what the writers wrote makes more sense in                     today&#8217;s situations than much of what you read in today&#8217;s newspapers.<\/p>\n<p><em>Light reading<\/em>. The flowery pastures of miscellaneous                     literature have an irresistible appeal to some people. They                     say that they have no time for great books, yet they have                     time for others. They give the impression of being so busy                     nibbling at the hors-d&#8217;oeuvres that they do not get around                     to the steak.<\/p>\n<p>Serious readers are far too wise not to read a light book                     now and then, and there are plenty of non-serious books worth                     reading for fun and pastime.<\/p>\n<p>One thing to do early after you determine to make reading                     contribute to your urge to know is to develop enough firmness                     to reject the fugitive trifles about silly things and empty                     people, the memoirs of the unmemorable; the vulgar appeals                     to the latest fad; the noxious exposes of violence and sex.                     One reviewer was forthright enough about one of these books:                     &#8220;This book can be justified only where no other reading matter                     is available.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><em>Translations<\/em>. It is commonplace to hear learned people                     say that such-and-such a book must be read in the original                     language to be appreciated, but Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote:                     &#8220;What is really best in any book is translatable &#8211; any                     real insight or broad human sentiment.&#8221; Conan Doyle remarked:                     &#8220;Life is too short to read originals so long as there are                     good translations.&#8221; And Alfred North Whitehead said: &#8220;Most                     of the good can be got out of translations.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>No book has had so revolutionary influences or had such                     a world-wide effect as the <em>Bible<\/em>. After two thousand                     years, it is reported by the Canadian Bible Society, the Bible                     has been translated into some 1,450 languages and dialects.                     People of all races find through these translations the answers                     to the great problems plaguing the world: war, immorality,                     crime, juvenile delinquency, racial and religious prejudice,                     atheism and despair.<\/p>\n<h3>The benefit of knowing<\/h3>\n<p>Anyone seeking a motto for his desk or to hang over his                     book-case might do worse than adopt &#8220;I am still learning&#8221;.                     The fact that a person has noticed that he does not know everything                     shows that he is intelligent. His determination to learn is                     evidence that he will ward off the sensation of emptiness                     which is part of so many lives.<\/p>\n<p>The urge to know is a constructive force. He who follows                     it is seeking to build a solid foundation of knowledge accompanied                     by a critical sense of values. He is brushing aside the soap-opera                     style of life that is based on the ills and aberrations of                     society.<\/p>\n<p>He is building the sort of mind that is capable of coping                     with everyday problems in the here and now, and looking ahead                     with serenity to the prospect pictured in the beautiful words                     of Santayana in <em>Dominations and Powers<\/em>: &#8220;The firmament,                     as we watch it and measure its silence by the rhythm of our                     heart or lungs, seems a finished and unchangeable marvel;                     yet it is shining, burning, and speeding influences in all                     directions; and there is no knowing how many things more wonderful                     than our own wonder it may yet produce.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h3>Starting points<\/h3>\n<p>This list of books is not a list of &#8220;best&#8221; books, but only                     a suggestion of introductory books. One reader may find that                     Wells&#8217; <em>Outline <\/em>gives him all that he needs to know                     about general history, while another reader will find that,                     like Durant&#8217;s <em>Philosophy<\/em>, it leads him to seek further                     knowledge along certain lines. None of the books is difficult                     to read. If the books are not in stock, a book store will                     order them for you. Books known to be available in paper covers                     are marked*.<\/p>\n<p>Reading: *<em>The Lifetime Reading Plan<\/em>, by Clifton Fadiman.                     Avon, Hearst Corp., New York. *<em>Books That Changed the World<\/em>,                     by Robert B. Downs. Mentor, New American Library, New York.<\/p>\n<p>Philosophy: <em>The Story of Philosophy<\/em>, by Will Durant.                     Garden City Publishing Co. Inc., New York. *<em>The Conquest                     of Happiness<\/em>, by Bertrand Russell. New American Library,                     New York. *<em>The Enchiridion<\/em>, by Epictetus. Liberal Arts                     Press, Inc., Bobbs-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, New York.<\/p>\n<p>Myths and Fables: <em>The Muses&#8217; Pageant<\/em>, by W. M. L.                     Hutchinson. Everyman Library, J. M. Dent &amp; Sons Ltd., London.                     <em>The Age of Fable<\/em>, by Thomas Bulfinch. Review of Reviews                     Co., New York. <em>Andersen&#8217;s Fairy Tales<\/em>. Grosset &amp; Dunlap,                     New York. <em>Aesop&#8217;s Fables<\/em>. Many editions. The Macmillan                     Co., Toronto, published an edition in verse by J. E. Wetherell.<\/p>\n<p>Science: *<em>Science and the Modern World<\/em>, by A. N.                     Whitehead. A Pelican Book. *<em>Great Essays in Science<\/em>,                     edited by Martin Gardner. Pocket Books Inc., New York.<\/p>\n<p>Aesthetics: <em>Complete Stories of the Great Operas<\/em>,                     by Milton Cross. Doubleday &amp; Co. Inc., New York. <em>The Creative                     Impulse<\/em>, (writing and painting) by H. Caudwell. Macmillan                     &amp; Co. Ltd., London.<\/p>\n<p>Poetry: * <em>The Poetics of Aristotle<\/em>. University of                     North Carolina Press. <em>The Poetic Image<\/em>, by C. Day Lewis.                     Jonathan Cape, London, <em>The Oxford Books <\/em>(anthologies)                     of American, Canadian, English, Greek and Modern Verse. Oxford                     University Press, New York and Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>History: <em>The Outline of History<\/em>, by H. G. Wells.                     Garden City Publishing Co. Inc., New York. <em>The Story of                     Mankind<\/em>, by Hendrik Willem van Loon. Garden City Publishing                     Co. Inc., New York.<\/p>\n<p>Biography: <em>One Hundred Great Lives<\/em>, Odharns Books                     Ltd., London. Literature: <em>The Story of the World&#8217;s Literature<\/em>,                     by John Macy. Liveright Publishing Corp., New York.<\/p>\n<p>Religion: *<em>The Religions of the World Made Simple<\/em>,                     by Dr. John Lewis. Made Simple Books, Inc., New York.<\/p>\n<p>A person who has these books on his shelves has a library.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[1],"rbc_letter_theme":[],"rbc_letter_year":[52],"class_list":["post-4055","rbc_letter","type-rbc_letter","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized","rbc_letter_year-52"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>November 1972 - VOL. 53, No. 11 - The Urge to Know - RBC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rbc.com\/en\/about-us\/history\/letter\/november-1972-vol-53-no-11-the-urge-to-know\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"November 1972 - VOL. 53, No. 11 - The Urge to Know - RBC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Most people who read this Letter are no longer under educational discipline. 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They wish to go on learning things, but the urge to know has taken the place of the compulsion to study. 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