Knowledge and Wisdom

What Education Gives You, and What Only God Can

"Wisdom comes from experience, and experience comes from Being."

Knowledge comes from education. Wisdom comes from experience. And experience — the kind that truly shapes a soul — is furnished by God. Everything in our lives, good or bad, carries the incredible purpose of teaching us something. As we learn, we gain knowledge. As we apply that knowledge through living, it becomes wisdom. And wisdom is the stuff that enables us to make the right choices along our journey.

"For wisdom is a defence, and money is a defence: but the excellency of knowledge is, that wisdom giveth life to them that have it. Consider the work of God: for who can make that straight, which he hath made crooked?" — Ecclesiastes 7:12–13

The Catechism affirms this divine ordering of our growth:

"God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions. God willed that man should be 'left in the hand of his own counsel,' so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full and blessed perfection by cleaving to him." — CCC 1730

Steps in an Infinite Ascension

Our lives on this physical plane consist of many levels. I see them as steps in our ascension — steps that span infinitely into what will be our constant and continuous growth. We never stop growing.

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." — Genesis 1:27

"Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature." — Genesis 2:7

There will come a day when we will no longer need the physical vessels that carry our souls. We are our souls and spirits — created in the image of God — and as we ascend to the next realm of our existence, we will become as one with ourselves and with one another.

The purpose of our visit here is actually simple. I often wonder why people make it so complex. We were created by Spirit, as spirit first — and then we became flesh and blood. Why? We were created to create, and to experience what could not be experienced otherwise. It is our thoughts that generate things, and it is our words that carry the power to propel those thoughts into existence.

"And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light." — Genesis 1:3

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." — John 1:1

Why Christ Spoke in Parables

I could easily walk through Genesis or any number of other sacred texts to make this point on an academic level — but that is not how wisdom is received. This is precisely why Christ spoke in parables. He knew it would not be enough for the children of God to simply be educated in fact. They would need to feel, hold, love, and envision Truth in order to truly own the Word. Through parable, the story would enter the soul and plant seeds of wisdom in the hearts of all who had ears to hear.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." — Matthew 11:15

The biggest challenge we all face was itself given to us in parable by the Master. We don’t put new wine into old wineskins. If we do, they will burst and the wine will be lost or contaminated by mixing with the old. This is the problem we all have with receiving new knowledge. When we continuously attempt to pour new understanding into old, rigid mindsets, we dilute it and render it unproductive. The wisdom never crystallizes. The seed that was planted never sees light, never sprouts, and never produces fruit.

"And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins — and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins." — Mark 2:22

"Wisdom comes from the Lord. The rest is education." — Bill F.

What My Father Taught Me About Education

Education plays a critical role in gaining knowledge. Without it, most people never truly learn how to think. I remember the frustration I felt in the early nineties, fresh out of college, unloading on my dad: "I don’t know why I even wasted my time and money on this degree."

What he said to me that day didn’t comfort me or defuse my anger — but it did get me thinking. Years later, I revisited it, and the seed of wisdom that had been quietly planted finally broke through the surface. I still vividly remember him looking into my eyes — as though looking into my heart — and saying: "You know, Ronny — nobody can ever take it away from you."

"Wisdom is good with an inheritance: and by it there is profit to them that see the sun." — Ecclesiastes 7:11

As the years went on, I began to realize the full advantage of being educated. I had good tools in my box and solid weapons in my arsenal. The most essential skill — the one that often eludes even the most credentialed minds — is the ability to think, imagine, and apply what you’ve received while maximizing the potential of the opportunities life presents.

I remember saying in school, "Why do I need to learn algebra? I’m never going to use it outside the classroom." I ended up using it every single day running a wheel and tire business for seventeen years. I became the person everyone else came to when they needed to calculate the overall diameter of a custom wheel and tire package.

The money we make is sometimes the money we save. I had absorbed basic accounting principles without even realizing it — which meant I never had to wait for an accountant to tell me how my business was doing. I could catch problems early, plug the holes in the dike before the profits drained away.

Marketing was another example. I had spent countless credit hours on a communications degree and found very few jobs waiting on the other side. But across seventeen years in business, every one of those skills became invaluable. I created my own advertisements, developed my own marketing plans, produced my own commercials, and published my own magazine. The magazine alone was so successful that I opened a new store every year for the first three years. It bore far more fruit than I ever imagined — and did far more than I originally intended.

"An educated man can find what he seeks. A wise man seeks what he finds."

What started as a simple advertising journal became an informative, widely read publication throughout southern New England. Two things created the stir. First, I featured a local customer’s vehicle in every issue — which sparked a quiet competition among enthusiasts who wanted to be included. Second, I wrote a technical article solving the mystery of plus-sizing using straightforward algebra. Remember that subject I thought I’d never use? It led to a rush of customers who wanted to maximize their fitment without fear. With that knowledge in hand, and the wisdom to apply it, we became the largest auto accessories store in the state and the only one stocking custom wheels and performance tires.

"Buy the truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding." — Proverbs 23:23

Selective Knowledge Constrains Wisdom

As we look back over our lives, we all have stories like this — some on a smaller scale, some larger. The key lesson is always the same: never be afraid to learn something new.

"Selective knowledge constrains wisdom."

We must be as adventurous in obtaining knowledge as we are in living life. Reading a book we would not ordinarily pick up, watching a film outside our usual choices, or listening to music we would otherwise ignore — each opens a door to experiences that expand us. How do we expect to understand another person, or engage meaningfully with a different perspective, without truly studying their platform? The truth is, we cannot.

"Knowledge comes in a case — not a box."

It is a shame that we spend so much energy in argument while ignoring the wisdom gained from an open mind. If we would genuinely explore the beliefs of others, we could accelerate together to the next level of mutual understanding. Instead of fixating on our differences, we should be discovering the beauty of what we share. After all, we are all made in the same image.

"Wisdom is not being afraid to explore information that may be contradictory to our beliefs."

Human beings are created in the image and likeness of the ultimate Being — God. He does not make mistakes. We are not errors. How could perfection create imperfection? It could not, and it would not. We are created to create, and to experience what is created. The truth is in our Being.

"So God created man in his own image... male and female he created them." — Genesis 1:27

The Catechism teaches with equal clarity:

"Of all visible creatures only man is 'able to know and love his creator.' He is 'the only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake,' and he alone is called to share, by knowledge and love, in God’s own life." — CCC 356

Study the Word with a Clean Slate

I encourage all of us to release the bonds of our previous perceptions and truly study the Word with fresh eyes. Over the years, films, television, and media have painted a deeply distorted picture of who we are and what we are created to be. Much of what we think we know has been received from the word of others — not from the Word itself. Very few have taken the time to truly verify what they have heard.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." — 2 Timothy 2:15

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear." — Matthew 11:15

Wisdom is not the accumulation of facts. It is the lived encounter with Truth — received with an open heart, carried through experience, and applied with love. Education fills the mind. Only God fills the soul.