Opus 2026-482: The Wiseman and the Fool

Many people will talk about their “best friend”.  The only problem with that is every time you talk to them it’s a different “best friend”, or even in the same conversation they referred to several best friends.  I have a version of that which I call my favorite quote.  My current favorite is, “Any fool can ask a question that a wise man can’t answer.”  Of course the absurdity of these remarks is that you can only really have one favorite or best.  Logic and consistency are not strong points in the human animal.

Picture a teeter-totter with a fool on one end and a wise man on the other.  I don’t know which one to put down and which to put up, but you get the idea, it is not a level playing field.  The fool asked this question and the wise man is stumped.  He can be stumped for several reasons.  One reason might be that he doesn’t have an answer and of course, another one might be that the fool wouldn’t understand it if he explained in great detail.

Now let’s take our teeter totter and make it more balanced.  You have a basic teacher on one end, not a wise man, not a great scholar, just someone who knows a little bit.  On the other end, you put an average Joe and have him ask a question that is unanswerable. Then it’s even more likely that the average human being could ask a question that cannot be answered.  A reason why he might not appear as a fool could be that the fool might ask questions that the average guy wouldn’t answer because he doesn’t know how ridiculous the question is.  Either way you still can’t get an answer or the odds of getting a good answer or very slim.

Now we go to the intelligent, well informed, thoughtful man on the street who runs into your typical college professor.  His college professor has multiple certificates on his wall, a whole list of alphabetical acronyms after his name, a fancy office, a great title and of course a generous salary.  One of the things we should add, he is a total fool.  Now, do you think that this thoughtful man on the street could ask a question that this ignorant professor couldn’t answer?  You might think the answer is yes.  In reality, the answer is probably a no.  The professor would give an answer, but it would be a totally meaningless answer.  It would be based on lack of knowledge, facts that are not true, logic that doesn’t follow any rational path and an overwhelming sense of arrogance.  He might also simply lie.  He could give an answer.  It would just be useless.

It always amazes me when I watch some of these discussions and interviews and debates that show up on the Internet.  Some of the great questions are brought up.  Often it comes down to a discussion of evolution versus creation.  Is there a God?  Is there any purpose in life or is it just all chance?  What about the problem of evil?  Invariably the one who’s taking the side of evolution and chance will ask questions as if he is spouting great wisdom.  He will assume they can’t be answered.  In his interview, they probably won’t be, because the person he interviewing has never dealt with those issues either.  However, that doesn’t mean that there are not answers.  It doesn’t mean that these questions have not been answered thousands of times down through history.  It doesn’t mean they’re not entire books dealing with these issues.

I am obviously not going to give you the final answer in this brief essay.  But let me assure you that the answers are out there.  Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know, but I’ll look into it.”  Don’t be afraid to bring them up at your Wednesday night Bible study.  The pastor may not appreciate it, people may wonder what’s wrong with you, or you might actually find someone who will have coffee with you and get into a serious discussion.  Some answers are easy: do you want cream in your coffee?  Other questions require more information and pondering.  My daughter is taking me to a popcorn store in the near future.  They have a whole page of varieties.  I’m sure she’s going to want to buy me some.  When the time comes to ask, “What kind do you want” we will be faced with a difficult situation requiring some research.  My understanding is that they will let you taste anything.  That may not give you an immediate answer, but at least we’ll narrow down some of the possibilities.

Don’t look at difficult questions as walls that you run into.  Look at typical questions as doors that you might be able to open.  Look at them as challenges that have answers rather than commands that put you in a box.

homo unius libri