Volume XXII, Number 49 (Issue 1105) | December 2, 2024
An Aha Moment
Last Monday as part of my daily devotional I read the following passage from Psalms 25.
He leads the humble in what is right, And teaches the humble in his way.
I have probably read that verse and the eight that precede it nine times, maybe more, in the past twenty-eight years. (If the specificity of the prior sentence strikes you as strange, it stems from having adopted a daily devotional routine in 1996 which includes scripture readings detailed in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer’s three-year lectionary cycle.) Yet until this latest reading it never occurred to me how central humility is to learning. Perhaps that is because until now I have associated learning with curiosity and “humility” with the definition one finds in the dictionary: “freedom from pride or arrogance: the quality or state of being humble” (Merriam-Webster).
It is all the more noteworthy that I never made the connection since another element of my daily devotional includes reading “The Litany of Humility.” There too the eighteen couplets contained in my personal version of that litany fail to mention the connection between humility and learning. Thus, it was in a moment of singular clarity that it dawned on me that our willingness to learn rests on more than prescription and our curiosity. Learning also requires the kind of humility that acknowledges we are not omniscient; and, some of what we think we know is not true.
There is no need for me to make a case for our lack of total knowledge. But have you heard the phrase “perfect knowledge?” Since not one of us is perfect, it makes sense the knowledge you and I possess is also imperfect. Part of the problem with our knowledge is that facts change. For example, a study of scientific facts conducted in 2010 and reported in Scientometrics revealed that scientific facts have a half-life of less than fifty years. That is because the body of scientific knowledge increases at a compound rate of roughly seven percent per year. Thus, as our knowledge of science grows, some of the “facts” we once believed have been replaced with new facts and a new understanding of the facts. Next, we can add the immense volume of falsehoods housed on what has become our primary source of information – the world-wide web. Finally, we must factor in the times when you and I incorrectly connect dots and draw conclusions based upon the slimmest of information when those dots have minimal, if any, connection to each other.
When you combine those three elements, you can appreciate why it is estimated that between seventy and ninety percent of what we think we know is not true. The quest for knowledge by itself argues we be receptive to new ideas and new perspectives. Granted, not all new information is valid. Nevertheless, a large dose of humility is required if we are to keep our minds open to views and information, especially that which can change and expand our thinking.
Soli Deo Gloria
“Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore he instructs sinners in the way.” Psalms 25:8
J. Keith Hughey
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E-mail: keith@jkeithhughey.com
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