Why does knowledge exist?
If you answered “to allow us to discover and create”, you’d be right. If you answered “to help us function”, you’d also be right. You’d even be right if you answered “to prevent us from eating that fifth cookie” (or trying to at least…). In reality, there are an endless amount of answers to this question, but today, with the release of my new image Line Upon Line, I want to talk about one reason in particular: service.
As part of my Daughters of the King Series, this piece represents the Young Womens value Knowledge. Much like with To Bring Forth Fruit (representing the value of Faith), the idea I originally had for Line Upon Line was not at all how the final piece turned out. While I didn’t have to entirely re-edit my image three separate times to get it right (thankfully), the final piece is still vastly different from how I initially had envisioned it. The scripture 2 Nephi 28: 30, is mostly to blame for this, as it served as the inspiration for me create something with deeper symbolism and meaning.
30 For behold, thus saith the Lord God: I will give unto the children of men line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little; and blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.
After reading this scripture, I had two thoughts: the first related to the process by which we gain knowledge and the second related to what we do with this knowledge once we gain it.
I am not the first person to have wished that all knowledge (particularly the ability to see even just a glimpse of our future) was something given to us from the moment we took our first breath on this earth. I hope, however, that I am also not the first person to understand and appreciate why this is not the case… to appreciate why knowledge comes to us the very same way we take the stairs: one step at a time.
My second thought came to me as I visualized this process and remembered the motto of my Alma Matter: “Enter to learn, go forth to serve”. While frustrating at times, the journeys that we take towards gaining knowledge give us the experiences and memories that allow us to look around and lift those who tread behind us on this same journey.
Line upon line, in service.
As I thought about these two things, I began to see the image of Line Upon Line more clearly. I envisioned two girls walking up the stairs, one leading the other, and began to plan the details.
The stairs would represent the process by which we acquire knowledge, which is little by little or “precept upon precept”. One girl would be holding books in her hand, representing her pursuit of knowledge, as she is led up the stairs by her elder sister. With a candle in the older girl’s hand, representing the knowledge she has gained, she leads her younger sister up the path that her knowledge has “illuminated”.
Of all the symbols, however, color was one of the most important for me to consider. I wanted the color of evergreen, which represents eternity, to be prominent in this piece as a symbol of the eternal nature of knowledge. When we die, we will leave behind our wealth and our belongings, but we won’t leave behind what we have learned. I find it reassuring that the things that are most important, like the emotions we have felt, the relationship we have been a part of, and the memories we have created will still be with us in the next life. So be a life-long learner, and a life-long experiencer and memory-maker, because that is what your treasure will be when this earth no longer holds us here.
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