The more I listen to professors and peers, the more questions I have. I feel as if every paper I write should be 5-7 pages of questions. I know things. I learn things. But the next thing I learn to know shows how insignificant the previous thing is. It doesn't always stop at insignificance either. So often I find myself misinterpreting what I hear until the next thing I learn reveals my error. But then I wonder...how do I know I haven't misinterpreted the next thing? In my mind every sentence of affirmation ends with a question mark. "Right?"
It is clear that one never reaches the end of learning. To seek wisdom is to embark on an endless endeavor. In some ways this is difficult to comprehend, and difficult to enjoy. It is often the destination that motivates the journey. Knowledge can be seen as a thing desired that can never be obtained. It seems as though one can never succeed at knowledge. Therefore, academia is a daunting and seemingly hopeless undertaking.
As human beings, and especially Americans, we expect results. We weigh our options and see what will provide us with the easiest and most fulfilling outcomes. To many, learning has worth only as long as it allows you to make the most money. If you see knowledge as the hopeless journey described in the previous paragraph, this makes sense. What could possibly impel you to devote your life to knowledge with the promise of limited tangible results?
It is necessary to change ones perspective. Yes, to seek knowledge is to seek endless work and frustration. To forever train your mind - filling it with truths, reshaping those truths when they have been proved wrong, training your muscles to think, using logic, constantly digging for once-known facts that have become lost in the tangles of your mind. It may seem as though there is no evidence of the hard work. However, this endless training is exactly the result!
Montaigne said “I had rather fashion my mind than furnish it.” It is the fashioning of the mind that allows for knowledge to be found. That is why we can question the furnishing, shape and reshape and throw out what doesn't belong. We must not look at it as a meaningless endless endeavor. Not only does that very act of it give it meaning, but God gives it its fullest meaning. God has given us truth and the ability to know it. He has blessed us with the means of training our minds. All truth comes from God. This statement brings so much delight and motivation for the Christian. Knowledge is a beautiful gift from God giving it ultimate worth and ultimate satisfaction. If anything the everlasting process of it makes it all the more enjoyable for the good never ceases! So often we long for our destination and what joy it brings when we make it! But eventually we become comfortable and the initial thrill wears off. The pleasure of learning can never end for it is impossible to say "there is nothing more to know! I have explored all and can use my mind no longer!" God has given us his Spirit, allowing us to plum the depths of his knowledge.What a privilege. What a blessing!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
