These essays are written in sequence and build on each other. Read the preceding essay here.
In the preceding essay, we discussed the meaning of knowledge, and posited that knowledge of The Word is the result of action taken in the sense of The Word.
We highlighted the fact that The Word of Christ demands action as a necessary precondition for the experiences that cultivate spiritual knowledge.
Learnedness vs Knowledge
When we read The Word we have learnedness, not knowledge.
Learnedness in itself has little value. The Word must be actively and visibly expressed in our thoughts, words, and actions.
And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
— KJV, Luke 6:46
It is not out of learnedness that a sane adult would refuse to jump off the roof of a 10-storey building, but out of knowledge of the power of gravity.
Physical realities like gravity are expressions of the Laws of Creation, which themselves are expressions of Truth, which is in The Word. We have discussed this in detail in earlier essays.
The Word is realer than physical phenomena like gravity:
Heaven and earth shall pass away:
— Luke 21:33
but my words shall not pass away.
Therefore when we acquire real knowledge, we would view any thinking or acting that is not spiritually-motivated to be insanity, like jumping off a tall building.
To arrive at this point requires many incisive experiences, which result from continuous action in The Word.
But taking continuous action is not easy...
A Bridge to Knowledge
The God-given spirit of man always recognizes the Truth of the Word.
But the brain, being of the earth, primarily seeks the things that are earthly.
As we already discussed, prior to Christ’s coming man had misinterpreted the Truth that had been given in various revelations and through the prophets. We had become materialistic, interpreting everything only in an earthly way and for earthly purposes.
The spirit and the brain are to work together like a horse and a rider, with the spirit providing the direction and the intellect finding ways to implement in a practical manner.
If a spirit has knowledge (i.e. has experienced Truth) it will be able to “spiritualize” the brain, because the influence of the spirit would make the Truth seem “obvious” to the brain, like gravity.
But Christ saw that this was not the case. Our spirits lacked sufficient experiential knowledge, while our brains had become strongly materialistic – operating like a riderless horse.
The spirit indeed is willing,
— Matt 26:41
but the flesh is weak.
The weakness is the disconnection from the spiritual, in which real life and power exist.
Before the child can avoid dangers of itself, the parent relies on the trust that the child has in him to make the child obey instructions.
This reliance on trust is a temporary bridge, useful only until the child has gained the maturity to see the good sense in his parent’s instructions.
Faith is a higher form of trust.
Faith is taking action with childlike trust in the power of Love and Truth. That is equivalent to childlike trust in The Word.
Blessed are they that have not seen,
–John 20:29
and yet have believed.
Like a parent with His children, Christ gave us faith as a temporary bridge, to give us the courage to carry out actions in a spirit of Love and Truth even if the world and our brains are yet to “understand”.
These good faith-filled actions will bring about experiences.
The experiences gained from these actions will result in spiritual knowledge. This knowledge makes further actions “obvious”:
But I have prayed for thee,
— Luke 22:32
that thy faith fail not:
and when thou art converted,
strengthen thy brethren.
At that point faith recedes into the background and knowledge takes its place. Faith is the kick-starter, and knowledge is the journey.
Therefore faith is not the end goal of Christian life. Faith is the beginning; an important and inescapable first step.
Today’s Resolution
- We shall commit to take strong selfless actions in faith, trusting in The Word to build our knowledge through the resultant experiences.
The Word, (Re)Discovered 