Christians only have the luxury of knowing that a good God controls their tomorrow, not the luxury of knowing exactly what that includes. I’m applying for graduate school, and await either a yes or a no. Fingers crossed, libations poured, and several rabbit’s feet later, I am hopeful. But whether God decide I sit in a classroom, or spend the long hours of my life elsewhere, my approach to education will not change; His decision will only determine how much time I spend on it.
Americans can be classified as having one of two mentalities toward learning. To their chagrin, the majority employ a mode of learning characteristic of a defense mechanism. With an air of unconscious dismissal and superiority, they censure any and all foreign ideas, criticizing both people and philosophies they do not understand. As a species of learner, they fail to listen, which is their primary problem, and lack a healthy curiosity, which is their secondary. Our parents are particularly susceptible to this approach—part of it having to do with a misunderstanding of their valued experience, and part of it with their Modernist tendencies. Concrete experience consistent with correlative philosophies procure a sentimental attachment, making people feel a security toward tested propositions.
Have you noticed, for example, that the majority of elderly people cannot, or rather, will not so much as listen to an alien idea—no matter the source? If you introduce someone they believe to hold a position contrary to their own, they simply will not listen. Condescending patience arises and nostrils flare. This mentality, they have come to believe, is the result of wisdom—the amalgamation of learned experience opposes any idea. And this, I say in a manner meant to shock, is Codswallop.
Experience can only turn into wisdom if one has learned how to learn first. A lifetime spent with a poor learning attitude (regardless of the degree of intelligence) does not produce sages, it produces dilettantes and immaturity. Education and learning is a field like any other. There are better and worse approaches. On its own, the critical habit limits learning. When we criticize anything, we can only take what we already know—our intuitions, assumptions, and facts— to contradict novelties. Criticism is by its very nature an exercise with parameters. One cannot learn and criticize at the same time. We may, if we like, switch in and out of this mode, but in the actual moment by moment a critic cannot learn.
Contrary to popular Protestant Evangelical belief, criticism as an intellectual habit is the less impressive mental activity and weaker sister to creativity. In fact, criticism is most laudable, when it is at all, as an act of creativity. Our preoccupation with Christian ‘filters’ has made proud and naïve Christians. Don’t get me wrong, I think there is a time and place to shepherd our’s and our flock’s minds. But no amount of safety should come at the cost of unhealthy sheep. Why protect from wolves the environment killing your sheep?
I am talking about the difference between a mature and immature mind. Let me clarify that I do not believe myself to be promulgating the ideals of youth. There is a measurable difference between those who operate within the unhealthy or healthy mentality, no matter the age. The learned as well as the laymen, the young and as well as the old are equally in danger of using their minds incorrectly.
Doubtless, you find the source of these words ironic. Who but the kid with a high appreciation for education would pick on peccadilloes of the mind? Of course. But here, you will be cheating both me and yourself. If you take me for what I am actually saying, if you listen, you will realize that I do not believe sins of the mind small—not when I have personally witnessed their destruction upon myself and those I love. Christian anti-intellectualism has not resulted in a few silly Christians, it has resulted in the perpetual spiritual depravity of every major university in the Western hemisphere.
The great tragedy of all I’ve written here is that I will only be preaching to the choir. Those who don’t know how to listen will surely not listen to this pile of rubbish. Mentalities usually go unchanged until a crisis moment smacks sense into us. Quickly, then, I will try my best to recreate such a moment in writing: the critical mentality does not only make you stupid; it makes you immature of mind; it makes you a greater sinner. Patience and prudence are not your virtues because you have never enacted them, and know nothing of the goodness they confer to you and yours. Agnostics consider you naïve because you are. Atheists think you superstitious because you are. Your disagreements turn into emotional attacks because you do not know how to say ‘I don’t know’ or ‘you might be right.’
I hate getting preachy, especially with abrasive language in public view. But I have had too many conversations with ph.d.’s whose critical genius has made them peevish, and too many conversations with laymen who would have you believe they have a ph.d in any given subject. When our Lord commanded us to love Him with all our minds, He meant that thinking is an act of worship. To treat it as anything less is sin. Like loving God with all our hearts, souls, and strength we are required to do it well. We are required to do it with purity as well as sincerity.
