And Knowing is Half the Battle*...

That's probably a trademark phrase, and if it is, someone should let me know and I'll change it (although it happens to be really really fitting for this post...)

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What is knowledge?

Cori brought up a really great point in her comments under my This I Believe post (which also might be trademark... "Knowing" if they are or not may cost me the war, I think...) She wrote:

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[...] I always struggle when people talk about what we can 'know' and not 'know'. I guess the very term 'know', and what we mean by knowledge varies somewhat. For example, (and its hard to avoid cliches, sorry!) how do you 'know' your mother loves you and does that kind of 'knowing' differ from your 'knowing' that there is such a thing as gravity? [...]

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Knowledge is defined by Websters as:

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1. the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association
2. the range of one's information or understanding [answered to the best of my knowledge]
3. the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning : COGNITION
4. the fact or condition of having information or of being learned [a person of unusual knowledge]

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I think when we talk about knowing whether or not there may be a god, a lot of people who believe in such a god speak of him or her as if they know. My mother is one of these people. She knows god exists and has a very personal walk with him through the minutiae of her daily life. But when we look at the definition of knowledge above, we can see she (and many others like her) are missing a few key aspects in regards to this knowledge: namely "the circumstance or condition of apprehending truth or fact through reasoning." What they feel they do have is "the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association."

Cori's example of "knowing my mother loves me" is definitely not something I can look up in a book and read about. This isn't something I can take a college course on, test in a laboratory, or even base a degree on (unless your name is Dr. Ruth). So how do I know my mother loves me?

Some may call it a natural feeling, some may call it intuition or common sense, others may say, "How can you not know? What kind of a silly question is that?" Love is typically shown and verbally acknowledged; my mother not only says "I love you," but she sacrifices of herself to do things for me; she buys small gifts; she calls to chat; she shows a myriad of verbal and physical acts to show her love, not because she feels she has to or needs to prove it to me or anything. She just does things out of her consciously perceived knowledge of what love is and should be. I believe this falls under the "fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association" part of the definition. Through repeated experiences and association, I have come to know of my mother's love for me. Some may think this is a given, but one only need look at some of the lives children lead in this country (and world) to know that a mother's love isn't always there, nor is it always unconditional when it is there. It is also something that is not just a given under any circumstances, otherwise people would never doubt love and what it means or how it affects their lives. "Love," I believe, is not only a learned condition, it is more than anything an active choice. (I may post on this later, but for a quick summary, see the next paragraph; otherwise, continue your adventure below the following paragraph...)

There are some people in life we cannot stand. They get on our very last nerve; they find our buttons and not only push them, but push fast and repeatedly. And some of those people in my life, I share blood with, and I have to choose to love them; otherwise I simply wouldn't bother or care about these individuals... and that can be very very hard to do sometimes. I think you know what I mean here. "Love" is not simply something that is felt (although on the surface it may seem so, and at times may the whole extent of "love" we feel for a given person), but for true love to be realized and actualized, it must be a conscious decision and action...

Hmm, that tangent went longer than expected, but I think it exemplifies what a knowledge and experience of "love" is, and how "knowledge" plays a factor. But if not, feel free to express it below on comments! :)

Now when we speak of a knowledge of a god(s), a lot of us say we "know" god through experience and association. But "knowing" god--and this I feel is key to why "knowing" god simply isn't knowledge but something else entirely--not only takes into account the "can't study, can't test, can't learn" scenario of my mother's love for me, it also is only "experienced" (and I use that term loosely here) in the mind of any given individual. What you see as an example and showing of your god's love for you may be just a daisy growing in the cracks of an alley in inner-city New York. Or perhaps a chocolate candy in the shape of Mary. Or maybe something like being the only miner to survive a cave-in in West Virginia. Who knows?

It's all subjective. God never sends an e-mail letting you know he loves you (Hey, Jason, this forward made me laugh so hard I stomped my feet in the Indian Ocean and flooded the Philippines--again. LOL! Love, God): it's a feeling you get when you stare at the daisy. God never leaves you a voice-mail extolling the depths of his love for you ([Beeeeep] Hey Jason, God here. We still on for burgers after the Wednesday night service? Give me a ring or a prayer or something; otherwise me and the kid are hitting some strip joints in San Fran after smiting a few Palestinians--thanks!): it's a feeling you get when reading the Christmas story. God never pats you on the shoulder (physically or metaphorically) (Hey, Jason, way to go! Now, to really get on my good side...): it's a feeling you get when you feel you've done the right thing ...

My mother actually pats me on the back. She leaves me messages on my voice-mail saying she loves me. She sends e-mails just because. I don't think she's loves me because I heard a pretty bird singing in the park; I don't feel her love by listening to the wind in the trees. Not only is the physical realm the extent to which I am shown my mother's love, it is the things she physically does that extends to me her love for me. It is in the physical realm which she also occupies and from which she affects my world in measurable and easily objectively viewable ways to which my knowledge of her love is confined.

We can never know of anything which isn't in the physical realm, and we certainly can't take a physical trait and/or attribute and/or thing and assign it to a nonphysical, nonobservable being and say its an act of love or a knowledge of said being. And while we will also never know everything there is to know about the physical realm, the things we do know are only based on the physical realm; and anything we imagine we know outside of the physical realm can only be based on the physical realm which is the whole reason society's concepts of god(s) always changes through time. Because god and his attributes and his rules and laws and such are what we imagine they are and should be: based on our perceptions of our physical world; our present concept of right and wrong based on what we like and dislike about our physical world; and our knowledge and gained perspective on ourselves and our world.

You can never know anything about god(s). You can never test god. You can never prove (or disprove) him or her because they are not in the physical world [i.e., the four dimensions of our existence].

You can't claim a knowledge of god. You can only claim perceived imaginings, faith, and belief. And for some, that's all they need, and that's fine. I'm not here to tell you what your reality should or should not be (unless it infringes upon my perceived reality in a detrimental way).

I am here to simply say,

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Stop Saying You Know.

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Claim belief. Claim faith. Claim whatever the hell you want (no pun intended). But to say you know is not only misleading, I think it tends to make your god(s) seem less godly, and thus, less marketable, and ultimately, more like the Pet Rock than a deity...

As always, this is just my two cents, and if you have something to add, something you disagree with, or something totally off-topic but even remotely interesting, please feel free to let us know.

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For further musings and posts about knowledge, imagination, and the physical world, see Imagination Vs. Reality by me, Musing on Metaphysics by Ergo, or even Reality Versus Imagination and Illusion.