PERPETUAL COGNITIVE CURIOSITY
Why is there such a drive for Perpetual Cognitive Curiosity?
In other words, why does mankind have such an insatiable Thirst for Knowledge?
And is such a thirst, healthy or unhealthy?
Let’s examine this topic through the lens of both science, and Faith.
Neuroscientist have surmised, that whenever we have that “click of the lightbulb moment”, and comprehension occurs, our brains release a stimulus that excites us.
A biochemical cascade, of an opium like substance, gets expressed into our cerebral region.
What does that mean exactly? I’m glad you asked.
Simply put, We get high whenever we understand something!
We become like an adrenaline junkie. We get all OCD about gathering information.
We begin to crave that high, like any other junkie would.
Our brains start craving that fix of knowing something…anything.
We begin looking for opportunities to maximize another moment of knowing.
We’ll surf the net for hours, read books, ads, magazines, labels, cereal boxes, billboards, signs, anything, anywhere, that might have some data on it.
Scientist report that this drive for knowledge, can only be bested by a more innate material need, like the one for hunger.
Perhaps that’s why we can’t think when we are hungry.
It is believed that the same mechanics involved in our quest for knowledge has a direct correlation to atheism.
We get consumed by a desire to know something for ourselves.
Knowledge addiction has strong evolutionary ties which go back to the very beginning.
Atheism says, I don’t need God, I can know for myself, without Him.
Which is a great Segway to look at this subject through the eyes of Faith.
Why did Adam and Eve, when told they could eat from every tree in the Garden of Eden, except for the Tree of Life and/or the Tree of Knowledge, choose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge?
The Tree of Life symbolized doing your own thing. Living your life, your way.
Adam and Eve had a pretty good thing going in the garden, so they didn’t want to mess that up.
They were housed, fed, and protected by God.
He gave them everything they needed.
That’s why they didn’t eat from that tree.
But Knowledge, now that was a tiger with a different set of stripes.
Mankind was tempted to not wait on God, and learn from him, but rather to know all there is to know right here, right now. No waiting.
Maybe Adam and Eve felt that feigning to get high!
Afterall, that’s why we love cliff notes, trailer clips, and search engines.
We can all become instant experts because we read something on the internet.
J.R. Tolkien said please keep in mind that, “Short cuts make long delays”
Notice it is called a “Thirst for Knowledge”, because you will always be thirsty and unsatisfied.
Knowledge is never satisfied. It will always have an appetite for more.
We will always want and need more knowledge. But why?
Because knowledge isn’t truth, its only facts and information.
It can only provide a theoretical understanding of a something.
Just because you get knowledge, doesn’t mean you have truth.
Let me say that again. Just because you get knowledge, that doesn’t mean that you have truth.
We really want truth, and we think, and hope knowledge is the pathway that will lead us there. But it will not.
Only truth leads to Truth. Only God is Truth. He alone is the Truth of all truths.
God wants us to have Truth. Not just to know Truth, but to experience Truth.
The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge are both still inside of all of us today.
Which tree shall we choose to eat from?
Will we choose to live our life the way we want to without guidance or supervision from anyone?
Or will we choose what we want to know and believe on our own, regardless of Truth?
I pray we choose to experience the Truth.
This is a Thompson Truth
