Opus 2023-085: Well, What Do You Know?

We only know what we know.

That is my profound thought for the day.  What do we know?  What can we know?  In some areas we only know what we are taught.  We can’t research everything.  If you are taking a class on ancient China you pretty much are forced to assume the author of the text and the professor know something.  One comforting thought is that it won’t make much difference except on the test.  In the case of some topics like calculus, microbiology or cooking we might not have the aptitude.  Some people are no good at numbers.  I don’t understand it but I accept it.  Some people have no taste buds and could not measure a cup of flour if their souffle depended on it.  We tend to learn easiest in areas we are good and and/or enjoy.

In other areas our ignorance is on us, such as Bible and cooking.  Yes, I know I said cooking before but cooking is within the reach of most people who are interested.  The myth that men don’t know their way around the kitchen is Fake News.  If you can read, you can cook.  If you can watch You Tube, you can cook.  And you have the same comfort that you had in the previous paragraph.  It probably won’t matter.  The world does not care if your angel food cake falls in the oven or your eggs come out hard instead of over easy.

Something like the Bible might make a big difference.  I will accept that there might be some people out their who can’t read the Bible and get anything out of it but I have a suspicion that those people also need a diagram to figure out which shoe goes on which foot.  Or they might be like the guy who was sent after headlight oil and actually went.  The Bible is a book that can be understood on just about any level.  An elementary school student can read it and gain something.  So can a guy with a Ph.D. in Archeology.  The key factor is looking in the sense of wanting to see.  

Strangely enough the Bible itself expresses that thought.

(Pro 4:7 NAS77) "The beginning of wisdom is: Acquire wisdom; And with all your acquiring, get understanding.

A few days ago I went to the grocery store.  I had my shopping list.  I got everything on my list.  When I got home my wife asked me if I got milk.  No, it was not on my list.  I was even right across the aisle from where the milk was but I was not looking for milk.  We are more likely to find something if we are looking for it.

To paraphrase, “Got wisdom?”

homo unius libri