the knowledge club

The longer I live the more I realize that there are certain "ideal" or "pure" "types" of people in this world, people whose heart-inclinations reflect basic orientations in life. Well, to remove the mystery, here is what I mean. (1) Some people might be money-makers or tend to spend most of their time thinking about how to make money. (2) Some are power-hungry, and they take a lot of time figuring out how to extend their influence. (3) Some are lovers of people or are relationally-oriented, and they spent a lot of time figuring out how to connect with and interpret others. (4) Some are athletically gifted and spend a good deal of time honing their athletic prowess. An ideal money-maker type might be Donald Trump; a classic example of a person obsessed with fitness might be Jack LaLanne (b. 1914). All of these types of people are encouraged and praised by our culture. Popular newspapers and magazines devote stories to these people all the time. No one ever has to wonder in his/her mind if the desire to make money or improve oneself physically is a "good" in America. It is, unquestionably so.

Two types of people that our culture really doesn't encourage or even much recognize are those in quest of God and those questing after knowledge. Oh, you can have a religious faith; indeed, it is encouraged. But to spend one's entire life on the quest for a deeper or more intimate relationship to God is perceived as impractical; to spend one's life on the search for knowledge in general is perceived as quaint but terribly out-of-date. The purpose of this essay is to imagine with you what might happen if those of us who are knowledge-oriented, with reference to general knowledge, decided to form a knowledge club so that we could encourage and mutually strengthen each other when everyone else is trying to force us into specialties, on the one hand, or the "bureaucracy of knowledge," which often is what the teaching profession amounts to today. Let me begin by talking about my quest for knowledge.

Where Seldom is Not Heard a Discouraging Word

I think I have always been a quester for general knowledge, a sort of omnivore of learning. But I was discouraged from pursuing it at a young age by people I most respected. Oh, they never came out and said, "Don't pursue knowledge," but both my university professors at an Ivy League school and my spiritual companions along the way tried to discourage me from this general search. You might think that professors are really in the "knowledge business," but I have often found this not to be the case. When I was in graduate school, I was strongly encouraged not to stray outside the department to take additional classes. I think the sense was that I had enough to learn within the Religious Studies Department itself, and a number of stellar guides, so that all my questions really should be directed to those inside the building. On the religious front I soon ran into people who tried to counsel me not to spend any more time studying than is necessary because, as the Scriptures say, "knowledge puffs up but love builds up." Searching for knowledge is just a way to stimulate one's vanity. Thus, from two entirely different sources I think I was told to forsake the general quest for knowledge. My professors wanted me to be a "religion specialist," or, even more specifically, and "Early Christianity specialist." My religious compatriots wanted me to become a more "activist" Christian in the world.

I tried, as best I could, to be what these people wanted me to be. Was it because I lacked confidence in myself or was unable to identify in myself this "general questing" inclination? There might be some of that, but I also had the sense that my professors knew how life worked or should work, and that it was my responsibility to try to do as they said. After twenty years of trying to do what others told me to do, I figured that it was bad advice. I decided that I was a knowledge seeker, pure and simple, and that the knowledge I sought would be an inclusive and interdisciplinary understanding of the world, anchored in facts and precise exposition and articulated in terms that were easily understandable to intelligent people today. I decided that I am, above all, a knowledge-seeker, and that I am happiest when I allow my heart to range over broad expressions of human learning in many fields and make sense of this learning for today. I don't think there are many people who are like this today; people certainly aren't encouraged to become this way.

The Idea of a Knowledge Club

So, my idea is simple. I would like to start a club of those who likewise feel that their basic identity and orientation is to seek general knowledge. They may, indeed, have a specialty and have published a good deal in that specialty. But their orientation toward the world is basically that all knowledge is theirs, and the reason they don't understand something is that they haven't quite spent enough time on it yet rather than it is incomprehensible for them. I think at first I would like to have three separate clubs: (1) those who are college-age and probably pursuing a degree; (2) those who are doing doctoral work; (3) those in the early stages of their academic/teaching careers or other young professionals who see themselves as knowledge seekers. I would love to be the one to coordinate a weekly meeting, where I turn to one person and say, "XXXX, what have you been gaining knowledge about in the last week? What have you learned about it? Which additional facts do you need to pursue to give you a deeper understanding of it?" Then I would ask them loads of questions about the phenomenon they are considering, forcing them to formulate ever more precise expressions of knowledge as they refine their quest for what they want to know. I would ask them about sources used and available; give questions that will take them deeper; help them learn to express themselves concisely and clearly; etc. We would have a veritable feast of information, but we would always seek ways to make what is learned accessible to and important for those who are living life today. The topics to be studied and reported on are unlimited. Sometimes I might need to guide people to their topic; other times the person will "take off" on his/her own.

Conclusion

A well-functioning knowledge club would not only help people think about their love more deeply, but it would emphasize to them that knowledge-seeking is treasured, if not by the society at large then by the society of like-minded people. And, maybe if that is the case, I might be able to tell people to follow their heart's inclinations young in this area, and not to leave the eager search for general knowledge to the time after you are 50. It is fun after 50, but it would have been much more fun had I had the courage to do it at 25.

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