Cultivating Wisdom (2)

An inadequate view of suffering

Philip Yancey, in Where is God When it Hurts?, quotes Helmut Thielicke, a German minister who survived Nazism and World War II, as answering the question, “What [did] he [see] as the greatest weakness among American Christians?” in this manner: he replied, “They have an inadequate view of suffering”.

We have a tendency in America to avoid pain at all costs. Advertisers capitalize (literally) on this, bombarding us with images of instantaneous remedies for pain. When a child is rejected by her friends, we are instructed, via ads, to comfort her with soup. When we feel lonely, we are told to join the beautiful people at the bar and chug-a-lug a few beers. When we have a slight headache, we are to rush to the medicine cabinet as soon as possible and swallow—our choice—various brightly packaged analgesics. We are told quite disingenuously that more hospitals prefer one pain reliever over another when in reality the hospitals who recommend this product receive hefty discounts from the drug’s manufacturer.

Cultivating Wisdom (1)

The nature of learning
Contemporary American dialogue in almost all disciplines seems characterized by rancor, bitter ad hominem attacks, and acrimonious, ideologically driven arguments. We hear a plethora of opinions but not much in the way of wisdom.

Knowing: What, How, and Why? (7)

My mouth shall speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart shall be understanding. I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre. Psalm 49:3, 4

Not by science alone

We’ve been considering various ways that we come to know the things we know. We must not overlook or minimize the role of authorities, experience, reason, and imagination in helping us come to know the world and our place in it. While we actually know quite a bit, very little of what we know has been acquired by strict application of the scientific method. This does not invalidate the scientific method as a way of knowing. Rather, I am making the claim that there are other ways of knowing that are equally valid and therefore should be given at least as much attention – in raising children and in making our own way in the world – as the method of science.

The rest of God (10)

George Herbert on rest
The great 17^th Century Anglican priest and poet George Herbert pictured God pouring into man the gifts of beauty, wisdom, honor, and pleasure, but not pouring into man the gifts of rest and satisfaction. Herbert’s reasoning went that if God did pour into man these last two, men would only remember the gifts of God to the exclusion of remembering God Himself. Expressing this poetically, Herbert depicts God stating:

He would adore My gifts instead of me,
And rest in Nature, not the God of Nature.…
God decided it would be better for us to be rich,
           yet weary and hungry:
If goodness leade him not, yet weariness
May tosse him to My breast.

The importance of knowing how we know (6)

And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” Genesis 11:6

Reason gives rise to imagination
Knowing is an ongoing process in human beings. It begins at birth and continues as long as we pursue it according to all the available means. Once the various aspects of knowing begin to interact – authorities, experience, and reason – knowing and learning become a way of life. People are always using things they have learned in the past, and they are always embarking on various quests for more knowledge, to enhance their experience and enrich their lives.

Matthew 12:9-14; Mark 3:1-6; Luke 6:6-11
The rest of God (9)