The illusion of knowledge

As we grow, from a child to an adult, the brain keeps developing.

In the process, it creates an identity to isolate its existence from the rest of the Universe (a rather interesting phenomenon!) -- social constraints further concretise that identity. 

The structure of this emergent identity, a part of it often known as the ego, seeks fulfilment through various means. Through unending pleasure, accumulation, dominance, etc. 

A distinct means of seeking a subtler kind of fulfilment is curiosity -- and the illusion of knowledge accumulation.

Being curious is often regarded as a noble trait because the knowledge that comes with it can help humans build complex structures, be it social or technological, and organise communities together in diverse ways.

Curiosity, often regarded as a harmless trait, begins with asking questions and seeking answers. Finding answers and storing them in either a personal or a public repository of memory is called knowledge. 

However, from an objective standpoint, what we call as knowledge is the rearrangement of neurons inside the brain in such a way that makes human comprehend, and predict the recurrent structures in any system. Had there been no consistent structure in this Universe, knowledge would not have been possible. Knowledge is utilitarian; it helps humans generalise human curiosity to unknown domains, hence it is valued.

But there is a catch here -- if curiosity takes a very strong shape, with every question answered, more questions open up, and it keeps getting infinitely more like a fractal, on a never ending pursuit. Eventually, almost from any direction, one ends up on the borderline where reality starts becoming the question, and any deeper pursuit might result in insanity. 

Since there is absolutely no end to asking questions and answers, it is a recurring loop that only feeds the ego. The structure of the ego is such that it constantly needs to be attended to by various means. This is the structure that needs to be constantly maintained so that a human doesn't become dysfunctional in society. 

Can this pursuit of knowledge reach fulfilment any day? Well, one way is to answer this question in an articulation which brings more thirst of knowledge. There is another way -- I would say a rather elegant one that the Indian saints had long practised as a living experience with various schools of meditation, instead of trying to answer questions which is never ending, dissociate the part of the human mind from where questions generate! If there is no structure in the human mind to have any meaning with creating questions, the craving to seek answers is totally gone! Not that they have any less literary or existential depth, it is just that in the vast array of never ending esoteric literature, the saturated part of it is just to practice dissolving the ego itself -- a rather permanent solution to this problem!

Where do I stand in all this? Well, somewhere in the middle. I haven't reached a point yet where I would think of dropping this structure, which questions. And I am not very fascinated by the concept of dropping the ego's structure right away either. Although I can see where I am headed, I am still happily curious. I have been in the verge of insanity, but still now, it hasn't pushed me to the point of no return! And I think, to be functional and trying to understand human discovered patterns and structures much as possible, we need a mind that questions -- just not too much. I think the entire Universe stands on a fine balance of constants, and balance in this ever changing world is where I stand in my views now. However, I can't guarantee that this would be the position I would hold after 10 years.