The Cost of Knowledge

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For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow. Ecc 1:18 ESV

Is ignorance bliss? The Preacher warns us about the dangers and limitations of wisdom and knowledge (12:12, 1:12-13&18; 2:12-15, 7:16-17, etc.). Knowing can be a burden. One symptom of our connected society is an exponentiated level of “awareness”. A few years ago many of us experienced the #Kony2012 phenomenon. Sam Sanders of NPR reported this week that Kony2012 was the video heard around the world with nearly 120,000,000 views within one week or nearly 600,000 views per day. 

Let that sink in. 

It can be overwhelming, wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famines… and noble as the causes may be so much of it seems out of reach. It doesn’t help that most of these initiatives are built on guilt. “Hey you! How can you just sit there playing Angry Birds when there is someone dying of bird flu!”

While we recognize that if we are unaware, we are unable to effect change, we must also recognize that awareness is not understanding. Knowledge can bring with it a sense of dysphoria, and even a sense of helplessness. What can I really do to help? I can’t catch Kony, I cannot dig enough wells, or buy enough of Tom’s shoes, mosquito nets, retroviral drugs, and so on. Sure, I can help a bit, but there is so much more to be done.

The truth is most often in the tension between truths. If we were unaware of starving children, and civil wars, life could go on in monotonous bliss; but in time, the darkness would creep over us and destroy us as well. So then, maybe we know too much? And even then, perhaps are not 

able to adequately process what we are informed about.

Go look at your kids’ soccer ball. Some years ago while in an economics class we learned that in upwards of 90% of all soccer balls come from Pakistan. No real problem there for me, global village and all. But what stuck was the news that the majority of those making these soccer balls were children, and young ones at that. Kids who from our vantage point should have been in school, reading, playing, etc. Our class was enraged. “I’m never buying a soccer ball from Pakistan again until they stop child labor!” Then, the other cleat dropped. Turns out that in Pakistan, the economy is such that all members of the household have to contribute in some way financially to survive. If these children were in school and not making soccer balls they may not have enough to eat. This naturally leads into a plethora of discussions about our unwillingness as consumers to pay more for goods, which drives prices down, which drives production costs down, which drives wages down, etc. etc. all of which is enough to keep  you up at night thinking, “How can we get these kids to school, and get cheap soccer gear?”

Perhaps it was better not to know at all?

Well, Solomon didn’t say it was better to know nothing now, did he? But we should realize that there is cost associated with knowledge. There is a spiritual cost in that if we know that good that we ought to do and do not do it, we are sinning (Jas 4:17). There is an emotional cost, in my case, it comes on me every time I step into a sporting goods store, or nearly any department store for that matter. And then, there is the cost of ignorance. Perhaps the question is this, “Which costs more in the end, knowing, or not knowing?” And for now, my answer is, “I don’t know” and Solomon’s answer seems to be not so much “do not know”, but “know that with knowledge comes sorrow.” This is the economy of knowledge.