Responsibility for Knowledge and Sharing
In Syriac culture, which bears the deep imprints of Ancient Mesopotamia, knowledge is not a personal accumulation to be locked away inside oneself. For when knowledge turns inward, it is like a seed that rots. Its true essence requires sharing, transmitting, and keeping alive in order to sprout and bear fruit.
For this reason, learning is not limited merely to enlightening one’s own mind and soul; it carries a responsibility to illuminate the path of others as well. All knowledge is, at the same time, a trust. If what we learn is not taught, shared, or brought down to the practical ground of life, that knowledge loses its function over time and turns into dead capital.
Syriac wisdom teaches us this: the true value of learning lies hidden in its ability to be a light to others. Sharing knowledge and offering guidance are inseparable parts of the very nature of knowledge. For knowledge kept only to oneself carries not the living breath of truth, but merely its shadow.
As a reflection of this understanding, it was said in Ancient Assyrian-Akkadian: "If you are not going to teach, why are you learning?"
This aphorism also sheds light on today’s understanding of education. In the modern world, knowledge is not merely a tool serving individual success, but the fundamental dynamic of social transformation. Knowledge does not develop unless it is shared, it does not multiply unless it is transmitted, and it gains no meaning unless it is applied. Education aims to transform not just the individual, but the society they live in.
Therefore, learning is not a privilege on its own; it is, at the same time, a responsibility in the collective journey of humanity. Every student is a potential teacher, and everyone who learns is a lamp that will illuminate the path of others.
The awareness of these meanings, combined with the encouragement and demands of friends of culture, opened the door to a new search against the difficulties that negatively affect Syriac literature. This search, sprouting within me, was shaped by the responsibility of sharing knowledge and culture. Thus, with the aim of both keeping the light of literature alive and contributing to our collective memory, I decided to establish the website www.karyohliso.com six years ago.
Thinking and speaking alone were not enough. It was necessary to transform thought into action, and words into practice. With this responsibility, I present the website www.karyohliso.com—which I have prepared for publication in four languages (Syriac, Turkish, English, Arabic) as a result of great efforts—to the service of friends of culture today with the same excitement and pride as yesterday.
Because I know that the need for knowledge that carries a transformative meaning is much greater than imagined.
For the website to be more beneficial, it needs to reach more people. I extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who shows sensitivity and supports us in reaching new readers.
Furthermore, I would like to express my gratitude to the BET KANU team, in the person of the esteemed Akkad Saadi, for the support they provided regarding the technical infrastructure.
Yusuf Beğtaş
You can also send us an email to karyohliso@gmail.com
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