Trivialities

Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
  T.S. Eliot, "The Rock"

Tonight, the Rocket Scientist, our friend the Resident Shrink, and I went to a pub in San Jose and played bar trivia.  We won, handily.


It takes a certain type of mind to be good at this game.  A mind like a magpie, prone to picking up new pieces of  information and storing them in back recesses from which they tend to burst forth like springtime cherry blossoms at the drop of a proverbial hat.


There is something soothing in knowing facts like these.  They are verifiable, certain.  You can look them up.  They are  unambiguous. We live in a world where there is chaos all around and what we know seems to be built on shifting sands, and all too often the media treat scientific fact as a matter of "controversy" when there is none, simply because some religious zealots can't cope with it. In such a world, to know that New Guinea is the second largest island in the world, or what animal is called "ursine," or who drove the getaway car in "Bonnie and Clyde" seems like an accomplishment.


It is meaningless.


It is meaningless because these facts cannot change the world.  Knowing these facts can't cure cancer, can't discover life on Mars, can't help feed the hungry.  Knowing such facts can't help you change minds about the war in Afghanistan, or help you convince people that the Tea Partiers are dangerous and that most of the swill that they spout is an affront not only to the U.S. Constitution but to teachings of the God they profess as their Lord and Savior.


It can't help you function in the world. It can't help you get a job. It can't help you weather the economy.  It can't help you... do that much.  We can't all be Jeopardy! champions.


Such facts are merely information.


There are other types of minds: minds full of knowledge that can synthesize information into larger understandings of the world.  Minds that can discover, that can analyze. Or wise minds that can provide insight into the human condition.  Minds filled with depth and compassion.


Most days I feel I have a magpie mind.  I long for a mind which can discover truths.  A mind which can see deeper patterns. Hell, even just a mind which can master basic organizational skills and motivational techniques would be an improvement.


I long for wisdom, or failing that, knowledge. All too often, I think all I have is information.


That doesn't seem like enough somehow.