wisdom, knowledge, and the source for change

"He contemplated the grandeur, and the presence of God; the eternity of the future, strange mystery; the eternity of the past, mystery yet more strange; all the infinities deep-hidden in every direction about him; and, without essaying to comprehend the incomprehensible, he saw it. He did not study God; he was dazzled by the thought He reflected upon these magnificent unions of atoms, which give visible forms to Nature, revealing forces in establishing them, creating individualities in unity, proportions in extension, the innumerable in the infinite, and through light producing beauty. These unions are forming and dissolving continually; thence life and death." Victor Hugo, Les Miserables

there is, seemingly, an ensuing battle between the acquisition of knowledge and the wisdom of experience. what the spoils happen to be of such a conflict can only be change. we fight for a brilliant consciousness of truth, pursuing it doggedly until we are more confounded than when we first began. we strive impatiently to penetrate the great mysteries of existence only to become increasingly exasperated. we believe knowledge to have transforming abilities, but in the end, it seems that life experience is what gives mould to our identity.

remarkably, we become increasingly better at living as the pages of our calenders are perseveringly ripped away. as if life itself, or at least the experience of living, has educated us in its own way. we begin to accept things for "how they are" in contrast with "how they came to be" or even "why they are what they have come to be." in contemplation, not penetration, we obtain that blissful joy and transformation we so ardently desire. of course, part of living is learning, and learning is influenced by the knowledge we obtain as we tread slowly over life's path.

and so, certainly, in our comparison of knowledge and wisdom, we see that each influences the other. wisdom is informed by knowledge and our pursuit of knowledge is dictated by the wisdom we possess. but knowledge, in my estimation, will only take us so far. even st. paul, in his epistle to the romans, after giving a lengthy discourse on the gospel and enumerating for us so aptly the knowledge that God has graciously given him, seems to throw his hands up in bewilderment exclaiming, "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!"

knowledge, assuredly, is a gracious bestowal from Him who gives "all good and perfect gifts". we cannot function without it. but to effect change, in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds, and in our communities, perhaps we should seek to ponder anew the greatness of God and his grace, both things revealed and those shrouded in mystery, our goal not being one of discovery, but one of change for the good of our communities, our loved ones, and our selves.

if we forsake wisdom to the deceit that knowledge, left to itself, provides us, we profit nothing. if we pursue wisdom through experience, knowledge will come with it. the fool sees knowledge as an end in itself. the wise man employs knowledge in the appreciations he has for life, either now or in eternity, seeking change of self and his surroundings, savoring the sweetness that God offers experientially.