Wit and Wisdom

Learning how ignorance is the first step of wisdom

08/26/2022

1 COR 1:17-25 Brothers and sisters: Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the learning of the learned I will set aside. Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

Mark Twain is one of the easiest authors to quote because his writings are chocked full of wit and wisdom. One of my favorite Twainisms is a very subtle saying, so see if you can catch it. Listen now: “Keep your mouth shut and let people think you are stupid rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Did you catch the drift? The older I get and the more I stick my foot in my mouth because of dumb things I say, the more I realize I should have kept my mouth shut.

May I share one of the stupidest things I have ever said? I was 18 years old and a senior at Catholic High School for Boys in Little Rock. We were getting ready to graduate and we had all applied and been accepted at college. Combined, we had received millions of dollars in scholarships. We all thought we were hot stuff, and the best of the best of the best.

One day I was discussing college with a fellow senior and I remarked: “What could they possibly teach us in college?? I mean, we have already learned everything! I guess they will just keep rehashing the old stuff we already know.” Now, I did not have an ounce of arrogance or pride when I said that; I was being totally sincere. I wonder how many OCA seniors feel that way right now: "What could they possibly teach us in college??"

Here is another quotation from Mark Twain. He said: ‘I couldn’t believe how stupid my father was when I was 17 years old. When I turned 21, I was amazed how much my father had learned in four years!” Now, who had really changed and grown wiser: the father or the son? Clearly, the son was learning not how much his father knew, but how little the son really knew.

In other words, the first step of true wisdom is not to know a lot of stuff, but to realize how little you really know. As Hamlet said to his friend Horatio: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” There were far more things in heaven and earth that we Catholic High seniors could ever dream of. Wisdom is not thinking you know everything; real wisdom is knowing you know very little.

In the first reading today, St. Paul also addresses the idea of wisdom and foolishness. He writes to the Corinthians: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” That is, when we think we are really smart and know it all – like I did as a high school senior – we only seem foolish in God’s eyes, compared to his heavenly and divine wisdom.

In other words, the best attitude before God is what Mark Twain said: “Keep your mouth shut and let God think you are stupid rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt.” Real wisdom does not consist in knowing everything, but in knowing how little you really know, especially compared to God’s mind.

If the purpose of Ozark Catholic Academy is to teach you “wisdom” – which I certainly hope it is! – then the goal of every graduating senior should be simple. Every senior should leave this school not like I was at the end of high school, thinking I knew everything. Rather, you should leave here with a growing awareness that you do not know everything. And that humble ignorance is the first step of true wisdom.

Let me leave you with two examples of men who took that step of ignorance that made them incredibly wise. The first was the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato. He formulated his famous dictum thus: “The only thing I really know is that I do not know.” That conviction made his open to learning much more than those around him know thought they knew it all. Plato knew well why God gave us two eyes, two ears, and one mouth. We should listen and watch far more than we open our mouths to speak. And if we keep our mouth shut, we are less likely to stick our foot in it.

The second example is St. Thomas Aquinas. Here let me quote from G. K. Chesterton’s book on the Angelic Doctor: “And then something happened (it is said while he was celebrating Mass) the nature of which will never be known among mortal men. His friend Reginald asked him to return to his equally regular habits of reading and writing, and follow the controversies of the hour. [Aquinas] said with singular emphasis: ‘I can write no more.’ There seems to have been a silence; after which Reginald again ventured to approach the subject; and Thomas answered him with even greater vigor, ‘I can write no more. I have seen things which make all my writings like straw.’”

In other words, if St. Thomas Aquinas’ writings look like straw – and he is arguably the greatest mind that has ever lived – what do you think your writings must look like? That is what St. Paul meant when he wrote: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!