The Dark Side of Knowledge

Growing up, I often encountered the phrase Knowledge is power. It was kind of a refrain in my home, at school, and elsewhere. There was not enough room for skepticism in academic matters. Whatever books, journals, digests, and other avenues of knowledge had to offer was considered sacrosanct, because the refrain was tattooed on the mind. As the years wore on, I became increasingly aware of the fact that there is actually a person behind a work of art, say a novel or a poem or a play. As much as I’m prone to error or fallacy, so could be the person who’s written a book even if they happen to be a genius. After all, he or she is just another human.

I recently happened on the extremely dark philosophy of the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran. I advise against reading this guy. A nihilist through and through, he hasn’t much to offer in the way of hope. But that’s understandable considering he was plagued by insomnia all his life and probably had other issues. Yes, he does offer some clever nuggets here and there but all in all his philosophy is steeped in nihilism. After a brief encounter with his dark writing, I decided that he’s not a man to look up to. A Schopenhauer on steroids I would call him. It is manifest from his writings that he’s a tormented genius.

Abrahamic religions emphasize hope and patience in the face of adversities. One could quote several examples. Cioran might come across as a smart guy who has understood life deeply. One cannot help but on occasion appreciate the punch and pithiness of his aphorisms. Consider, for instance, this: “What I know at sixty, I knew as well at twenty. Forty years of a long, superfluous, labor of verification.” This is from his famous book “The Trouble With Being Born”. He occasionally dazzles with his witticisms but in the end he is a very dark philosopher. Some of the most interesting characters created by literary heavyweights sometimes seem to align with similar philosophies.

Abrahamic religions also contain a detailed description of the accursed Satan and his banishment from heaven. Prior to that, the religions teach us, he was a high-ranking angel blessed with vast knowledge. What kind of knowledge one can only imagine. After his fall he declares that he’d lead astray the creation of God in every possible manner. If that’s the case, it’s tempting to infer that he might very well lead men to such philosophies as Cioran’s. It doesn’t have to be carnal desires all the time for the devil to ensnare base men. It appears that the devil can be very subtle in his machinations leading otherwise very astute men down the garden path. It always pays to look at things with clinical detachment.

 The writer is a civil engineer.