“We know next to nothing about virtually everything. It is not necessary to know the origin of the universe; it is necessary to want to know. Civilisation depends not on any particular knowledge, but on the disposition to crave knowledge.”
~George F. Will.
Shallowness is the bane of our age. Actually it goes further than that. Shallowness is a very human trait where ignorance is rife and curiosity’s lost for laziness.
Curiosity or Assumption?
Too easily it seems our natures collude over assumption; we think we know more than we do. The sad thing about that reality is once we begin to hold that view our eyes become blinkered and our ears close over.
The curious, however, have the habit of sifting through the data—all the inputs of life, true and false and all between—and they simply sort the wheat from the chaff, re-organising it according to its worth. There is no prejudice to this. Fact wins and falsity loses. No correspondence is entered into. There’s a constant forward-moving energy force behind it.
Two Blessed Traits - Faithfulness and Understanding
The people who go genuinely far in this life seem to have two traits. They are both faithful and trustworthy and they scour the world for knowledge; good knowledge that’s etched in truth. This produces understanding and that leads to the authenticity and cogency of wisdom.
People with these traits are good friends to have. Look for the person who can be trusted and who values good knowledge. A better, more faithful friend—who will edify us—we will not find.
Framed like a beatitude, the person focused to these ends has the eternal favour of God in tow. They remain interested in what they can affect and on the information that matters.
Blessed, indeed, these will be!
© 2010 S. J. Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment