Knowledge puffeth up,
but love buildeth up.
By James R. Murray

Knowing is being aware of things as they are moment to moment. Knowledge is the accumulation of information that one believes to be true. Knowledge is of great value in the man-made world of machines, science, and arts and crafts. Without the accumulation of facts about the natural laws there could be little progress in chemistry, electronics, engineering, building and manufacturing. Each investigator in these fields stands on the shoulders of all those before him and, therefore, can see a little further.

Through accumulation of knowledge (wo)man has progressed from the crude ox cart to rockets which land on the moon; from the pony express to jet airmail; from smoke signals to the Internet; from grass shacks to skyscrapers; from rafts to ocean liners.

 It is easy to see the value of material facts and things, but (wo)man extends the external world into the world of living beings and fails to recognize there exist two entirely different worlds with entirely different laws. The (wo)man-made world of machines, ideas, standards and games, and a world of real living beings. One may set a standard for a machine, but when this is attempted on a living being, much mischief arises. That really does not prevent it from being attempted though, does it?

We see there are ever increasing attempts to standardize the individual. The more we try to standardize the individual, the more resistance (s)he exhibits. When any attempt is made to standardize people, we see it has the effect of making them violent. Then come additional attempts to standardize them, thus setting up a vicious cycle. The effort to standardize people is similar to trying to put everyone into a single mold. If one tried to put the family dog into a mold and squeeze him/her/it into a (wo)man-made ideal or standard, we might notice that the gentle pet would become very violent. How much more would a human become violent, for (s)he is the least standardized being on earth?

(Wo)man also judges his/her fellow (wo)man on the basis of information that has accumulated over the years about a variety of behaviors. This accumulated information is used to determine what kind of work people can do and to judge (wo)man in many such ways. This is putting people in a mold and labeling them.

The fundamental nature of (wo)man or his/her purpose is to evolve, to rise to a new state of being, to be transformed, to be a new (wo)man. (Wo)man is not raw material for a planned society, but raw material for the kingdom of heaven. When one recognizes the basic nature of (wo)man, his/her purpose on earth, one understands the derivation of violence. One sees those engaged in violence know not the purpose of their   existence. They are used as raw material for a planned society.

Because (wo)man finds so much value in the knowledge of the (wo)man-made world, (s)he will no doubt continue attempting to apply standards to the real world of living   beings. However, real knowing occurs by observing living beings from moment to moment. Start by observing self,  being aware of: the way things are; the attitudes that arise from the way things are seen; the behavior that is based on these attitudes. Self-knowing leads to that state called love, which is understanding.

“Knowledge puffeth up but love buildeth up.”
I Corinthians, Chapter 8, Verse 1

The key words are:
Puff - to be inflated with one’s importance; to have an enlarged picture of “self.”

Build - to create gradually as a result of effort; to establish.

The more knowledge or information one accumulates and believes to be true, the more (s)he is “puffed up” into believing (s)he knows how everyone should govern his/her life. The knowledge we so readily accumulate may include experience, theory, hypotheses, pet ideas, plans, opinions, wishful thinking and the ideals formed in infancy. These ideals state that the whole purpose of living is to gain pleasure and comfort and escape pain on all levels. Thus, the more a person holds this accumulated knowledge in esteem, the more tyrannical (s)he becomes. (S)he tries to enforce the kind of life (s)he believes is right upon others. (S)he tries to dictate what is right for them to do, have, think, and believe. (S)he should have the authority and power to insure that everything will be done which (s)he know is best for them. This situation is neither new, or is it old. It is the history of (wo)man-kind . . . the history of violence. It will, in all likelihood, exist in the future because, instead of seeing (wo)man as raw material for the kingdom of heaven, (s)he is seen as raw material for the machine called society.

By making continuous and honest self-observations, we see that “self” reacts to various relationships according to how (s)he has been conditioned. Knowledge is only conditioning; (wo)man generally develops a “puffed up” state in proportion to the quantity of knowledge (s)he has attained. Because of this conditioning, (s)he is at war within and cannot find his/her aim. Self-observation shows us that most of our behavior results from conflict. Conflict creates various emotional states and sets our attitude. Therefore, we see that (wo)man is resentful, angry, fearful and insecure. Because of the accounts (s)he maintains against husbands, wives, friends, children, neighbors, and groups, (s)he lusts for revenge.

Perhaps we can see that (wo)man will never have a different inner state, a new being, until (s)he renounces all that (s)he has identified with. Self-observation leads to dis-identification and this enables each individual to see differently; to perhaps catch a glimpse of a truth that moment to moment each person is doing what to her/him seems right, or proper, or justifiable. When an individual sees differently, (s)he is starting to build a foundation upon which higher truths can lie. Love builds up! What does love build up? It builds the kingdom of heaven in one’s inner world.

Do you believe a utopia could be built if you were given sufficient power to get others to do what you know they should? Do you believe such a utopia would be the Kingdom of Heaven? Many have tried to build such a utopia; there are many ruined Towers of Babel.

Would you be interested in allowing love (agape, understanding) to build within you?

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