Why Getting All the Facts Isn’t that Important

The information age is the age of facts. Google, Wikipedia, and Facebook can tell us just about anything we want to know in seconds. They’re like libraries but with more pictures, more pop-culture, and fewer brain cells. It isn’t as if the internet isn’t useful or even that it’s bad; it’s just that its availability has taught us to think in entirely different terms.

We want to measure everything in factual knowledge; we want answers. And that’s been a part of the human experience since Adam. But the availability of those facts is what has made our little obsession all the worse. We’ve gone from the occasional joint to shooting up in the bathroom and we can’t even tell the difference.

Facts are, of course, important. Math, science, and the Olympics all require a type of “objective” knowledge. But the problem is that’s all we want. If something can’t give us a straight answer, it’s frustrating. What or who is God? How can respect require humility on both parts if it is hierarchical? How many licks does it take to get the center of a Tootsie Pop?

The problem is the world will never know. We’ll never have the gnosis and we, in our impatience, will always take a bite, discarding the half-eaten choco-sugar orb and stick into the nearest gutter.

But the questions with unsure answers are the most rewarding because they are an integral part of the quest for wisdom. They come from experience, often involve generalizations, and require an open mind. It is precisely these requirements that make such wisdom unpopular. We must contemplate the mysteries life presents; live them, experience them, and meditate on them. If you want to know if God exists, no science can tell you, only the echoes of a voice calling out from within. If you want to know how respect works you should consider how the wise people you know act humbly and receive love in return. If you want to figure out Tootsie Pops, get some patience.

It’s not as if we don’t need objective facts or as if those facts aren’t important. The point is that our society undervalues the truths of wisdom and contemplation. To quote a certain archbishop, “science isn’t wisdom.” That isn’t to promote or denigrate either. It’s to recognize that the world takes all types and that proper truth won’t fit our constricting definitions.