On Knowing What I Don't Know

Over the course of human history there have been movements from one type of economic activity to another.  We know humanity in it's earliest forms primarily relied on hunting and gathering as it's main source of existence. Over time humankind learned that it could manipulate the  growing process and agriculture became the primary economic activity.  

Eventually manufacturing, arose and while existing along side agriculture for centuries it always came in second as a society's primary source of economic activity.  Yet, with the onset of the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries manufacturing would become the drive of  the economies of many societies, including our own.  Even today we often speak of industrialized nations as opposed to nations whose economies are more agrarian.

In the late twentieth century and into the present century the focus of our economy changed yet again.  Now we find ourselves in what is known as the "information age." Today a prime commodity is the gathering and sharing of information.  Fortunes are built in this manner.  Money is often made by moving and investing it rather than producing anything of substance with it.  The internet has been a game changer. 

As the dissemination of information has exploded we have become better and better informed--- except that we have not.  If there is one thing that can be taken away from the COVID-19 outbreak is that having more information at our disposal  means there is more disinformation at our disposal.  We may have more information but it certainly would not appear that we are better informed.

One is amazed by the number of people who are pontificating on social media about COVID-19.  Suddenly there is veritable plethora of medical experts and epidemiologists broadcasting their views and beliefs about the crisis in front us.  Of course the problem with many of these so called experts  is they aren't experts at all.  They are just folks who have read something on some agenda driven web site that generally conforms to their predispositions and they suddenly treat it like the gospel.

Incidentally most of these same folks suddenly became constitutional scholars during the impeachment of President Trump and his subsequent trial.  This fall, should we have a college football season, many of these same folks will become expert offensive coordinators.and head football coaches.

When it comes to COVID-19 it is far better to trust the medical degree and experience of a physician than it is to trust Google.  It is certainly better to trust a trained physician than to trust the guy at Jiffy Lube who read some crackpot website and is now spouting it like it came from Mt. Sinai. (No disrespect to Jiffy Lube employees intended.)

What we are facing is a fundamental breakdown between wisdom and knowledge.  Knowledge, simply defined, is to be in possession of information.  Wisdom comes in the proper application of that knowledge.  

I remember very distinctly a ride I took on a MARTA train over thirty five years ago.  A very bedraggled man came on the train.  He wore a dirty tattered plaid sport coat.  A pair of double knit plaid slacks which were not of the same  pattern as the sport coat.  He had on a wide brimmed Panama style hat that hat a chunk of the brim missing.  He appeared homeless and possibly in an altered mental state.

Like the gambler in the Kenny Rogers song by the same name the boredom overtook him and he began to speak.  He said, "Knowledge can tell you how to build a bridge but wisdom will tell you whether the bridge is needed."

The point is simple, we may acquire a lot of knowledge but unless we have the skills to correctly apply that knowledge it is futile.  During this time of COVID-19 I have had decisions to make concerning my personal conduct and the church I serve.  One of the important things for me to know has been to know that there are things that I don't know.  I'm a pastor, a preacher, a theologian.  I'm not a infectious disease expert.

The truth is a healthy dose of skepticism is never a bad thing especially when we are dealing with what we think we know.  

Fortunately, in this time of pandemic we have those who have wisdom as well as knowledge.  Let us all listen to the right voices.