Thinking Vs. Knowing

Thinking and knowing are not tweedledum and tweedledee. Thinking is a prospector who might strike gold today, but pyrite tomorrow. Knowing has purchased the pearl of great price. Thinking may be found in the streets of Jerusalem or New Jerusalem. Knowing is a permanent denizen of the latter.


In his tete-a-tete with Eve the serpent wanted her to think about, picture the wonders of, that forbidden tree in the midst of the garden, a tree that was "good for food, and that was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise". Also, a yummy pathway to death. Thinking, important as it is, will not bring us unfailingly into the Kingdom of Heaven any more than it will conjure up a donut with sprinkles on it ("The Fugitive").

It should not be overlooked that one of the three epigraphs to Science and Health, from John, denotes knowing, and another, from Shakespeare, thinking. The two words are certainly not antonyms and may even operate side by side in our consciousness, but thinking does not always yield the treasure of knowing. As has been stated many times before, Christ Jesus' command was to know the truth, not merely think or speak it. Knowing connotes understanding, thinking conceptualizing.

Probably most of us have been frustrated at times, maybe frequently, that our thinking has resulted in such a meager portion of knowing, but Mrs Eddy has made it clear that while the letter usually comes in abundance, the spirit comes in exiguous spritzes.

Note: I appreciate the kind comments on the "poem" a couple of entries ago. The brief critique by LowlyWise, I think, was useful, but I suspect a few more observations may have been mercifully spiked. Some rusty machinery was being set in motion after a long hiatus, and the effort no doubt would have benefitted from a few weeks of aging and emendation. Then, too, desire and noble intentions do not alone make a poet.