“To another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;” (1 Corinthians 12:8). The Scientific Method as established during the Age of Enlightenment has brought about more changes and improvements to civilization than almost anything else in the last five hundred years. From economics, to government, to technology, to social interactions, every facet of our existence has been fundamentally altered by our collective pursuit of the Gift of Knowledge. All of us, whether we are bricklayers or bank tellers or truck drivers or stay at home parents, are basically scientists in our own way. We are all constantly engaged in experiments to find the right combination of choices, habits and environments where we can maximize our positive emotions and minimize our negative emotions. When we are faced with some test of our patience or our commitment to our principles or to our faith in humanity, if we do not go into that test with our eyes wide open to gather and store away every scrap of knowledge that we can, then we have not undergone a learning and growing experience but rather have inflicted upon ourselves a cruel and unusual punishment of our own devising. To treat with reverence and respect the gift of knowledge we have been given at the end of our most hard fought battles is to give ourselves the opportunity to escape from the constant cycle of pride and foolishness and abject misery to which we will doom ourselves if we persist in making the same stupid mistakes without ever trying to learn from them. To qualify for the gift of knowledge is to have the humility to assume that we are more ignorant than we would like to be and to eagerly latch on to any chance that will expand our Gift of Knowledge.
