Access to data means access to knowledge. There are entire populations of people who are now blessed with a greater understanding of the world around them, how it works, and how to make a living in it because they have been given greater access to data. I think this is wonderful, especially for those members of the Body of Christ who are willing to work hard (ref: Work Is Something We Have In Common With God).
With global access to so much data, how much is enough? Maybe the better question to ponder is, how much is too much?
With access to so much information, it seems natural to develop a newfound unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I mean, just look around the next time you’re in public or maybe even in your own home. What are most people doing (especially if they have a so-called “smartphone”)? They are breathing in data. If you were to ask them what they’re absorbing, the truly honest folks might answer, “Nothing all that useful, to be honest.” Sure, there are times when we really are investigating, learning, and synthesizing good information for a good cause. However, we need to ask ourselves one very critical question:
Is the upside of knowing whatever it is we’re stuffing into our already crammed brains better than not knowing?
Solomon, the wisest man of his time, once wrote:
Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth. The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd.
My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
– Ecclesiastes 12:9-12
Solomon was stating that there are limits to our quest for knowledge. In other words, we can oversaturate our finite minds with data to the point where the return on the time and energy invested goes to negative. There’s such a thing as ‘too much knowledge’. Let me qualify that statement, though, with a few analogies.
Suppose a person spends their whole life working to the point of exhaustion and to the detriment of their family life. At the end of their life, they are swimming in money and then die, never having taken the time to enjoy the fruit of their labor (Ecclesiastes 2:18-21). Solomon calls this “vanity”. Or suppose a person runs a marathon and then drinks so much water that they throw up. There’s such a thing as too much water when you’re most thirsty for it (it’s called hyponatremia)! Or suppose a person decides they want to lose a few pounds because their clothes are getting uncomfortably tight, so they go from never working out to working out four hours a day, seven days a week. They blow out their weakest joints and muscles and are forced to take six months off for recovery. There’s such a thing as over-exercising. You get the point, I hope.
What matters most is clearly understanding what we’re trying to accomplish with our investments, whether it’s how much time we spend absorbing data, working, exercising, or whatever. We call this “wisdom”. The Bible has a lot to say on the topic of wisdom. In fact, it personifies Wisdom in the feminine grammatical gender as someone who looks out for us, almost like a mother figure. As I’ve been teaching from my pulpit as of late, we ought to listen to Her.
When it comes to limiting our intake of data, a good way to think about it is to consider not what is gained, but what is lost when we exceed said limit. We are greedy by nature (Proverbs 28:25; Luke 12:15), so we default to presuming more of a good thing is always better than less (read Man-Math in Diary of a Journeyman – Volume I). That’s a show of immaturity and a lack of wisdom. The same principle applies to personal finances, where the unwise laborer’s appetite for more and more money consumes them. The old saying, “The things you own end up owning you,” comes to mind.
He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
– Ecclesiastes 5:10-12
There’s such a thing as too much of a good thing. In today’s hyper-access, data-driven society, it’s easy to take in too much information with the hopes that somehow your life will be enriched by it. For the record, I’m just talking about the noble intake of information, excluding all the rest of the garbage we willfully jam into our minds as we scroll through social media, watch mindless TV shows or movies, etc. We need to develop real skills around self-governance. Greed, avarice, and lack of self-control all work against this and yet are primitives many people feel entitled to.
Here’s an experiment worth trying. Except for absolutes (e.g., learning new stuff for work), try not learning anything new for a few days, and focus on synthesizing and pondering what you already know, inspiring the same in others through deep conversation and reflection. At the end of the experiment, ask yourself an honest question: “Is my soul more or less settled, peaceful, and/or content?” I’d be willing to bet you’ll have to fight fiercely against the fear of missing out (read FOMO when you get a chance), but push through for the sake of the experiment. If you’re up to it, shoot me an email and share your results. I’d love to hear from you.
Biblical Wisdom teaches us that greed can turn a good thing bad. Knowledge is a grace gift – heck, Wisdom will tell you that She began with knowledge (Proverbs 2) – but if we’re overrun with it, we cannot make sense of it and risk misapplying it to our lives (ref: the sophomore’s plight). Remember, everything we strive for comes at a cost. Arguably the most unique asset we have to spend in this life is time.
If we spend all our time gaining knowledge, we risk starving ourselves of gaining wisdom through the application of our newfound knowledge to life circumstances (e.g., being present with others, sharing our thoughts, hopes, and aspirations – loving them).
Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
– 1 Corinthians 8:1b
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
– 1 Corinthians 13:2
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins