Fernweh

1 Introduction “Knowledge is power” is now a well-known equation. Although its debut dates back to the tenth- century book Nahj Al-Balagha in which Imam Ali noted that “Knowledge is power and it can command obedience” (Saying 147.5), the most famous occurrence was made in 1597. “Scientia potentia est” (knowledge is power), Sir Francis Bacon exclaimed in his work Meditationes Sacrae. Bacon meant that the experimentally based investigation and manipulation of natural phenomena should eventually...