Donald Miller
Donald Miller has just posted a great piece about knowledge and how one might exercise it wisely and humbly.
If we acquire knowledge before we are emotionally healthy, that is if we are insecure, we are going to use it to boost our own ego and compare ourselves to others. The desire for knowledge will be like a need for a drug, then, pacifying a wounded spirit through comparative associations. Entire theological camps have been built and bolstered by this needy, angry, gluttonous desire for knowledge. But if we have confidence, if we are secure, knowledge humbles us. We realize that we did not invent truth, we simply stumbled upon it like food on a long journey.
If this resonates with you in any way or pricks your conscience as it did mine, you might like to read the full post entitled Knowledge Makes a Secure Man Humble.
P.S. @jonosands: if my half of our conversation earlier was anything like the story Don tells in his post, I need to be told!
Tags: Donald Miller, humility, knowledge, knowledge makes a secure man humble
This resonates with me completely. Thank you Buzz. Looking back through my life, it’s easy to see where I gained knowledge before I was ready to emotionally process what I learned. The result was always at the very least less than it could be, at the worst a total eventual disaster. It’s really the comparison of knowledge vs. wisdom. Knowledge without wisdom is a loaded gun in the hands of a five year old.
Cheers,
SLC
Thanks for the comment, SLC. This has got me thinking about dying to ourselves, which DM covers in his book Blue Like Jazz and which a friends and I were discussing last night. Once I’ve organised my thoughts, I’ll post them! Cheers
Looking forward to it, thanks!