The Unknown
What you know, what you don't know, & what you don't know you know.
One of the most important questions we must ask ourselves if we are to grow in wisdom and knowledge is “What is hidden from me?” Without exploring the unknown Unknown, we can find our most well-meaning and informed decisions causing all manner of unintended and sometimes unfortunate consequences.
Most of us know about the Unknown. We need to know certain things, whether they be facts, figures, techniques or trades. The mechanic must understand the engine, the minister must understand the Word and people. We seek to learn areas we don’t know. We go to college, trade school, apprentice, get on YouTube or experiment on our own. In every case, we know we don’t know and set out to fill the gap.
As we learn, we discover new areas of learning. The mechanic setting up his own shop must learn about billing and taxes if he is going to charge people. He must learn about payroll and employment rules if he is going to hire a second mechanic to help with the work. The minister also suddenly finds himself needing to understand the financial rules around clergy pay, non-profit finance, and the intricacies of a congregational government church business meeting. As knowledge increases, so does the discovery of more Unknown. We discover the edge of explored territory and gaze into the unexplored. We learn to accept our limits & embrace some unknown areas. We hire mechanics, plumbers, or pastors to work in our unknown territories.
The question is, “What is hidden from me?” We are aware of the known Unknown. What about the unknown Unknown? We must embrace a personal humility that leads us to not only admit that we don’t know everything but to interrogate the areas where we do not know WHAT we do not know.
This realization often comes easier with age. Looking back on our youth, we know we had a lot to learn. We were not arrogant enough to think that we knew everything. We didn’t see that our arrogance was far greater than we realized. While we were humble enough to admit we had a lot to learn, we thought we knew what that was. We believed we had a clear understanding of the dimensions of our ignorance. We must realize now that the bounds of our ignorance were and are so much greater than we realized.
The question must be asked, “What is hidden from me?”
“…we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.”
(1 Corinthians 8:1b-2)
Each time we gain knowledge, we must remind ourselves that this knowledge puffs us up. We know something and based on that we can feel more confident, more assured, and more secure in what we know. This causes us to forget, ignore, disregard that what we don’t know, is still far in excess of what we do know. We will base our actions only on what we do know, little considering what we don’t, and ignoring the more we don’t realize we don’t know.
There is an old expression that you shouldn’t judge someone until you walk a mile in their shoes. This reminds us that you might not know as much as you think. Things too far removed from our own experiences may be invisible to us.
As Christians, pastors, teachers, mentors, and leaders, we seek to know the truth of God’s Word. God’s Word is true. We read it, study it, and memorize it. We seek to have knowledge, forgetting that knowledge puffs up. Rather than a reason for ignorance, it is a reason for HUMILITY while gaining knowledge. The Pharisees dedicated their lives to knowing the Scriptures. They spent more time studying, commenting on, and teaching the Scriptures than probably anyone in their time. They possessed superior knowledge, but it had puffed them up to the point that they no longer knew how much they didn’t know. Jesus keeps trying to show them what they are missing, but they refuse to accept what they don’t know.
Jesus calls it blindness. The inability to see something. “Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.”
(John 9:40-41)
The Pharisees were condemned because they could not admit the unknown Unknown in their lives.
Do you know you are blind? Are you willing to explore and examine not only what you don’t know, but what you don’t know you don’t know? Have you gained so much knowledge that you’ve forgotten that you don’t know more than you know?
I believe in absolute truth. I also believe I do not absolutely know all truth. The Bible reminds me that I cannot “lean on my own understanding.” When dealing with others, especially others whose shoes I have never taken a step in, much less walked a mile, I must realize that I often have no idea what I don’t know. So, as Paul said, I will build up with love, while seeking to learn. Then, I can share the Truth I do know in love, and seek to win others to Christ. As I make the best decisions I can, I will seek to keep my eyes open and try to see the things hidden from me. I will each day as a pastor, leader, and minister, seek to be aware of the vast unknown Unknown.