The Wisdom of Knowing One’s Ignorance

The Wisdom of Knowing One’s Ignorance

 

Scripture Verse: Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (John 9:41)

Socrates said, “Know thyself,” pointing out that many people act without knowing what they know and what they do not know. A wise person is one who knows what they know and what they do not know. Thus, such a person strives even harder to learn what they do not know.

In Chapter 71 of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching, it says: 

“Knowing what you do not know is superior (知不知上).
Pretending to know when you do not is a disease (不知知病).
Only when you recognize a disease as a disease will it cease to be one (夫唯病病，是以不病).
The sage has no disease (聖人不病).
Because he sees a disease as a disease, he does not suffer from it (以其病病，是以不病).”

Among those who live a church life, there is a disease of “pretending.” There are pastors who “pretend” to have the qualifications of a pastor even though they do not. There are elders who “pretend” to have faith even though they do not. There are deaconesses and deacons who lack the cultivated character of faith, yet “pretend” as if they possess it.

More serious than this disease of pretense is the disease of illusion—the illusion that one has what they actually lack. This disease is prevalent among churchgoers, including pastors and elders.

A person who becomes a pastor assumes that they possess the authority and qualifications of a pastor. A person who becomes an elder does not reflect on how they came to that position, but believes they fully deserve it in terms of faith and qualifications. A person who becomes a deacon forgets that, in truth, there was simply no one else available and they happened to be chosen. Yet they delude themselves into thinking they became a deacon because they fully met the qualifications.

If we are not afflicted with the disease of pretense or the disease of illusion, regardless of our titles, we would clearly realize how lacking we are as individuals. Then, we would neither boast about our faith needlessly nor put ourselves forward. But, because we carry this chronic disease of “pretending” and “illusion,” do we not act as if we are someone important without truly knowing “who and what we are”?

Jesus said to the Pharisees—those who lived the most righteous lives and were unmatched in their knowledge and observance of the Law of Moses—“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.” If they had acknowledged their spiritual ignorance before Jesus Christ, the Son of God, then perhaps their faults and ignorance could have been forgiven. But because they claim to see (spiritually) when in fact they do not, their sins and faults remain unforgiven.

We must cast out from our lives of faith both the “arrogance of pretense” and the “illusion of knowledge”—a result of spiritual ignorance. In doing so, may the perfect grace and abundant blessings of God richly dwell among us.