We have lost our way
On the Tree of Life, the attainment of wisdom is just one step down from union with God. Understanding and its attainment is one step below wisdom, and knowledge is one step below understanding. I say "steps" when what I actually mean are processes that can take years, a tremendous personal investment, and losses which, at the time, may rend the heart. But the overall process taking one to enlightenment and union with God goes from attainment of knowledge, then attainment of understanding of the principles and nuts and bolts of what one knows, the attainment of wisdom, which is the discovery of how to make wise decisions, and which paths are better than others. And finally one reaches union with He Who made it all.
Even for atheists, the pathway from knowledge to understanding to wisdom is a desirable one. Or, rather, it was once. But lately the desire for wisdom has been replaced by suspiciousness toward all decision-makers; that for understanding, by a growing lack of interest in it; and that for knowledge an even more massive devaluation of it. As children, we went eagerly from what to how to why, from acquisition of knowledge to an appreciation of the basics of science to the question of why this is better than that and which way is the best way. As adults, we've forgotten that progression -- or even turned on it, rejected it out of hand. And in that is our doom as a species. We have lost our way. If we don't regain it soon, we will be well on our way to extinction.
Even for atheists, the pathway from knowledge to understanding to wisdom is a desirable one. Or, rather, it was once. But lately the desire for wisdom has been replaced by suspiciousness toward all decision-makers; that for understanding, by a growing lack of interest in it; and that for knowledge an even more massive devaluation of it. As children, we went eagerly from what to how to why, from acquisition of knowledge to an appreciation of the basics of science to the question of why this is better than that and which way is the best way. As adults, we've forgotten that progression -- or even turned on it, rejected it out of hand. And in that is our doom as a species. We have lost our way. If we don't regain it soon, we will be well on our way to extinction.