A desire to do and to know.

We had an interesting discussion at institute last night. We were studying in Abraham chapter 1 verses 1-4. We were focusing on verse 2 which says, "And finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowedge, and to be a father of many nations, a prince of peace, and desiring to receive instructions, and to keep commandments of God..." Someone raised the question, "How do we get a desire to know" I think this is an interesting question. How do we gain a desire to know? How do we gain a desire to do better, to be better? Why is it that we can't just stay how we are, but that we must progress and become perfected, and learn more? Someone made the comment that when we do something something long enough we gain a desire to do it. If we do righteous things continually we will have a greater desire to be righteous. If we sin continually we get a greater desire to sin more and more. This made me think of a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that I love he says, "That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the nature of the task has changed, but that our ability [and desire] to do so has." I just thought that this was an interesting point. It makes sense and is probably just common sense, but it is interesting to think about.