"The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to kindled." -- Plutarch

Why is knowledge looked down upon so much in our culture?  Seriously now, is being smart such a bad thing?  Being in college, and with a brother entering highschool, I can look back on the all the drama of highschool and laugh.

Gaining knowledge is much more than a race to be the smartest or to get a letter on a piece of paper.  Knowledge helps define a person according to the material with which they fill their mind.  We can be an empty vaccuum of vapidity and insipidness OR we can be an enlightening symphony of meaning and aesthetic fulfillment.  Your choice.  One would presume this is a straightforward decision.  I'll actually reach that point--that cruelly unforgiving point--that knowledge is desired.  When of all a sudden, ignorance is thrust upon me and I e.m.b.r.a.c.e. it.  Why is striving after knowledge such a difficult task for us?  Blaise Pascal's Pensees hold the answer to this dilemma. 

Why is it that we amuse ourselves?  Why do kings chase after foxes? To muse means to think.  'A' is the greek prefix that negates a word.  That's right; you guessed it-- 'a-muse' means to 'not think.'  So why do we not think?  We use amusement as a distraction.  We distract ourselves from our own depravity and ultimately, our own death.  We avoid the thought of death like the plague.  (no pun intended) 

It is POINTLESS, USELESS, and STUPID to avoid thinking about our death.  By no means are we supposed to be morbid, but if do not prepare for life after death than we have lived a foolish life. 

Sartre was a nihilistic French philosopher who believed that this life was it.  He didn't believe in God or life after death.  I ask--what is the point of that philosophy.  Believing that there is no God is the least logical decision to make.  You have nothing to lose if you are correct, but if you are wrong, you have everything to lose.  It appears that the smartest choice would be to believe in life after death and thus, a Creator/God.  Incarnation is out of the question because it does not address how we got here and who designed this planet to run this way. 

All to say, we must strive to fill our minds with knowledge; we must seek to understand God.