You Live and Learn Part 6
December 7, 2025
You Live and Learn Part 6
After a lifetime of learning, you find yourself with a wealth of knowledge—perhaps even a wealth of wisdom. One of the natural fruits of living and learning is that we deepen and expand our worldview. Every new insight expands our comprehension of existence itself.
And yet, some people have learned huge amounts and still do not know who they are, how to love well, or how to be at peace with God. And some others with limited cognitive knowledge, can live in a deep understanding of who they are, their purpose, and in harmony with others and the Divine. What accounts for this difference?
The answer lies in the kind of knowledge we hold. There is cognitive knowledge, which is a fund of knowledge that explains the world through logic and analysis. Cognitive knowledge is vital. But there is also the knowledge of the soul, which reveals our spiritual identity, aligns us with divine love, and brings love and compassion into our lives. In a world often ruled by confusion, the soul is the truest “broker” of sense-making. But its way of making sense is not totally dependent on logic and analysis. Its major consideration is love. All components of the soul and its lens out of which the world is viewed, are said to proceed from the one energy of divine love.
The soul does not need everything to add up according to the ego’s equations. It does not depend solely on reason or emotions. The soul perceives the world through eyes of sacred peace, love, benevolence, action, creativity, wisdom, kinship, joy, and power. It applies all its energies with the support and companionship of sacred kinship. Everything is interpreted in the light of Love.
As St. Paul reminds us in First Corinthians 13:8 13:
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease;
where there are tongues, they will be stilled;
where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, and I reasoned like a child.
When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.
Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love.
But the greatest of these is love.
When we seek knowledge through the soul—through love—our sense of what makes sense is transformed.
Spiritual practice: Journal about how your ego makes sense of the world and how your soul makes sense of it. Notice where their perceptions may differ and where they are alike.
Self-inquiry: What is your current challenge? How would your heart complete the following sentence: When I consider my current problem in the light of the power of love, I am moved to solve it by taking the following steps: ____________.
Prayer:
Dear God, Grant me the soul’s way of knowing, the wisdom that sees through love, the peace that rests in You, and the grace to make sense of life through Your sacred presence. Amen.
