A woman from Tamilnad in South India wrote before the Christian era: “What I have learned is but a fistful of sand; what I haven’t learned is the size of the world.” It is amazing that she recognized that so long ago.
Our world of knowledge has greatly expanded since then. We have developed equipment that can see down into the depths of land and sea. We measure stars that are larger than earth; and we see events that happened multitude of years ago that have been transmitted at the speed of light. We study subatomic items and movements invisible to the human eye. And more!
Imagine the realm of knowledge as a rapidly expanding ball. From every point on the circumference, new questions arise exposing our lack of knowledge and our ignorance. Media spreads reports and opinions constantly from everywhere and from the past like confetti. Accurate information and fabricated lies flow down like torrents of mist and create illusions and false universes. Predictions of the future suggest every possible outcome. We gaze dimly through mists and stumble at determining what is true or false. Unfortunately, those who cannot distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish properly between right and wrong.
Observing and naming all this is not to praise ignorance or excuse our laziness. Indeed, a know-it-all person has a very difficult time learning anything and is a terrible student. One’s arrogance must be replaced by humility to be a good student or to become a wise person. Our teachers struggle because they must learn more and teach ill-prepared students to learn more than we knew existed when we were in school.
Socrates searched all over Athens for a wise person, and many people rushed forward eager to display their storehouse of information. Accumulation of information does not equal wisdom. Socrates concluded that a wise person understands that he does not know.
In order to make progress toward being wise, each of us in the Athens of Indiana can take steps to improve ourselves. That requires humility that does not rush to tell others how wrong they are.
We can undertake the serious, but difficult task of separating truth from falsehood. We will certainly fall short by making mistakes and because we are finite creatures. Even with that limitation, we can move closer toward the truth and move away from error. As humans we do not possess all truth, but all truth is ours. The worst human flaw is to give up in agnosticism or despair and conclude that no truth exists.
We must move forward with the understanding that truth is not an end in itself. Rather, each bit of information moves us slowly forward toward truth and wisdom. One does not learn in order to know, but to establish a foothold that helps one learn more.
Some say that the next step is to move from the head to the heart. We can use what we learn and what little wisdom we acquire to reach a higher plateau. That requires the move from an ability to distinguish truth from falsehood to develop the character of morality and conscience. That is internal and personal, but it also requires activity based on an understanding right and wrong that will enhance the lives of our neighbors and enable our wider community to flourish.
Raymond Brady Williams, Crawfordsville, LaFollette Distinguished Professor in the Humanities emeritus, contributed this guest column.
