In Pursuit
If someone wants to talk about passion, look no further: My middle name is passion, literally! Passion can be defined as “Ardent love”[1], and my middle name, Arden, can be defined as “passionate”[2]. My middle name explains me very well; I am a very passionate person because my fire, my object of intense desire[3], my greatest passion, is knowledge. Knowledge leads to the truth, and “the truth will set you free”[4]. With knowledge as my passion, every single area of my life is important. Knowledge can be found in school, people, traveling, nature, current events, and most importantly, knowledge can be found within. Wherever there is knowledge, I am passionately pursuing it, which is why I am here, at such a diverse, highly knowledgeable University.
The University of Texas is where I will begin building a credible and firm base of knowledge. 
[5]I have already gained so much new information from each course, and dealing specifically with knowledge, my philosophy class has revealed the most. One of my classmates in philosophy attended Columbia University and gained a great understanding of philosophy and literature there. As we discussed whether a statement was true or false, I realized that my classmate used what she already knew about philosophy to determine the answer, so even though I might not be able to learn and know everything, the more I know, the easier it is to determine what is true and what is false. In Plato’s Meno, Meno is faced with a paradox: “If we don’t know what “X” is, how can we recognize it, and if we can’t recognize “X”, how can we learn what “X” is?”[6] If I do not know something, how will I recognize it and learn from it? The answer is, I won’t. Therefore I want to know all there is to know, and never be satisfied with the knowledge I already have. In Philosophy, some consider the sources of knowledge to be perception, inference, and reliable testimony, and although I do not believe they are the only sources, I believe they are very important ones. The one I enjoy learning from the most is testimony.
When someone gives me a personal testimony about a subject, I learn it so much better because I am passionate about what people have to say. Whether a person is passing on information, or telling me a story, I can gain knowledge. In my personal relationships, I enjoy talking with that person and listening to them so that I may better understand and know them. My passion for knowledge leaves me with a compassion for people. I care deeply about my loved ones, and I show that by listening to their needs and getting to know them better. I know my close friends and family very well because I am so passionate about whom they are, how they feel, and why. Even if I don’t gain knowledge about a person, I enjoy gaining information from them. I am very interested in the different cultures and ways of the world, so what greater way of learning about them than by talking to the people of those cultures themselves! Knowledge can be found across the globe, and in order to learn it from the people themselves, I must travel.
Traveling is one of the most incredible things a person can experience. All my life, people have told me to travel as much as I can. I believe traveling is so important because it allows you to gain knowledge through people, personal experiences, and perception. I have a great desire to travel rooted in my desire to gain knowledge. Learning from the people of a certain culture not only would allow me to gain knowledge, but through that knowledge, I would also gain respect for the people and place. The more you know about a place, and it’s people, the more respect you develop. Traveling allows you to have personal experience rather than read information from a book, which for me, is so much more valuable. Through perception you gain those personal experiences. This is what I am most passionate about when it comes to traveling. Personally seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and physically being in a place are what I want to experience. Through my own senses, I can gain so much information. Being in touch with the nature of a place is an incredible experience, no matter where you go because there is so much to be learned from nature.
Nature is everywhere, yet so often it goes unnoticed and unappreciated. For me, nature allows me to use all my senses and knowledge of nature to appreciate it. I am so passionate about nature because it is so complex and therefore there is so much to learn. “Planet Earth” is a moving television series on the Discovery Channel that allows us to see what we never even imagined.
[7] It has inspired me to learn more about how nature does what it does because by knowing how things work, I appreciate them so much more. Yet sometimes, we are tied down to definitions and names. Eckhart Tolle explains in his book, A New Earth, that, “when you are alert and contemplate a flow, crystal, or bid without naming it mentally, it becomes a window for you into the formless.”[8] 
[9]This makes us have to use our perceptions to understand what something is. There is a vast amount of knowledge in nature that extends to the ends of the Universe, although I can’t make it to space, I can still learn so much.
The universe is full of knowledge, just waiting to be discovered.
[10] “Not only has it been expanding, but it is growing in complexity and becoming more and more differentiate.”[11]As my passion leads me out of my world and into the universe to gain the knowledge that awaits me, my view of life is profoundly changed. I no longer live in the world that revolves around what is going on in my life. My knowledge and awareness of the universe brings me outside my world and into a space where I am a small, and perhaps, insignificant being. I believe this is the best way to be. If I were to still be in my own little world, I would not realize the things that go on and happen outside my world, and thus I would miss out an infinite amount of knowledge. In becoming more aware with the universe I have discovered many videos and readings about what exist out there. This has led me to the knowledge that “We have been visited by highly intelligent, highly advanced, extra terrestrial beings in our very recent history, and probably as long as there have been humans on this planet.”[12] We are not alone in this universe, and this opens the door to new possibilities and knowledge. The idea that there are extra terrestrial beings has led me to discover so much new and exciting information. I am doing my own research and forming my own opinions based on the knowledge I have gained from many people’s testimonies. One of the greatest experiences I have had in my search for knowledge is using what I know to come up with what I believe and hold as truth. Finding new knowledge within myself has inspired me in ways I cannot explain.
There is knowledge I have inside my mind and soul that I have not yet realized; it is just waiting to be discovered. It is revealed through the connection of the knowledge I am already aware of. “Your conscious mind is your deliberate level of thinking, responsible for collecting information from the environment and transferring it to the subconscious.”[13] Just knowing this has made me very passionate about connecting every piece of knowledge I have to as many other things as I can. “Hammer[ing] [my] thoughts into unity”[14] provides me with new knowledge that is self-discovered and essential to my development. The more knowledge I gain, the more knowledge I can connect. The more knowledge I can connect the more I can learn from myself, and the more I learn from myself the more I learn about myself. By gaining knowledge I am developing the person I am and what I believe defines me. Knowledge is greater than myself and it is what connects me to something greater than myself. Although “knowledge is power,”[15] I do not strive for power, or a position of power. If I am a leader, I am one “who leads without leading”[16]. By gaining knowledge I hope to inspire others to examine their lives and ask themselves if they are satisfied with the knowledge they have. Knowledge is the passion, the fire, that lights up my world.
Because I am passionate about knowledge, I am passionate about all things, for in every emotion, every experience and every place, there is something to be learned. Whether learned from the courses I take at the University of Texas, the people I interact with, the wonders of nature I experience, the unknown parts of the universe, or my own mind, knowledge is the most valuable thing to me. “Everything you are and everything you are to become is a result of learning.”[17] Without it, I would not be able to appreciate the wonders of life and my passion for life itself would not exist.
[1] Farlex, "The Free Dictionary." http://www.thefreedictionary.com/passion (accessed October 6th, 2008).
[2] "Babyfit.com." September 5, 2007.http://babyfit.sparkpeople.com/baby-names-detail.asp?name=Arden (accessed October 6th, 2008).
[3] "Merriam-Webster Online Dictonary." http://aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/passion (accessed October 6th, 2008).
[4] The Holy Bible. New International Version. New Testament. John 8:32.
[5] An inspiring picture of the UT tower representing the class of 2012
[6] Phillips, Stephen. "MENO'S PARADOX." http://asnic.utexas.edu/asnic/phillips/pages/302/menosparadox.html (accessed October 6th, 2008).
[7] http://www.planetearthseries.com/images/planet-earth-set-large.jpg
[8] Tolle,Eckhart. A New Earth. New York: Plume, 2005. (p. 5)
[9] A beautiful picture taken in California that inspired me to look at the tree without mentally naming it.
[10] http://www.ammasso.com/image/universe.jpg
[11] Tolle,Eckhart. A New Earth. New York: Plume, 2005. (p. 279)
[12] Ben Hargrove
[13] Wilson,Taylor. Mind Accelerator. London: Volition Thought House, 2003. (p. 26)
[14] William Butler Yeats (cited in Frank Tuohy, Yeats, 1976, p.51 )
[15] Francis Bacon
[16] Chinese proverb
[17] Wilson,Taylor. Mind Accelerator. London: Volition Thought House, 2003. (p. 121)
Word Count: 1575
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