Knowledge & Education

At times Education can get educational; but usually it remains uneducated. At (other) times Knowledge can get ignorant; but usually it remains knowledgeable. So, wherein lies the difference between a programmed Education and an acquired Knowledge?

(Though Mark Twain says, “Do not let your schooling interfere with your education”, I have taken the liberty of kneading Schooling and Education into one doughy ball of curriculum, while maintaining Knowledge as its antithesis – this in no way means School and Education are one and the same; I am merely using Education and Knowledge as “model-verbs” if you will: the former as a model for our “natural programming”; the latter as a model for our “unnatural acquirements”.)

This predicament of Knowledge and Education leaves no room for educated guessing, no matter how schooled it might be; nor, for that matter, does it have time for projected assumption, no matter how knowledgeable that might be. For us to fix this fix of ours, an unbiased, non-partisan third party is needed. Let this party be known as Innocence.

Without Innocence (or, a synonym along this artsy theme of ours, Artlessness), no Knowledge or Education would ever be needed. We would all know it all – and, therefore, we would all be bereft. Could you imagine a world where no one was innocent – it would be like a prison where no one was guilty. The purity of Innocence is our greatest asset: it lets us learn, search, thirst, for something over yonder.

Thus, in the Kabbalistic lexicon, Knowledge would be Ohr, Education would be Kaily, and Innocence would be Atzmus. Knowledge: the thirst for something beyond the norm, beyond the school rules. Education: the rules one must learn, and follow, in order to quench that thirst. Innocence: the ability to fuse these two opposites. Or in “worldly” terms: Knowledge would be the world of Sovev, a vague-yet-encompassing intangible force; Education would be M’maleh, a clear-yet-limited tangible force; and Innocence, once again, would be Atzmus, that Essence which is neither this nor that, yet is both.

These questions we ask about our education, each to his own, are part of our education: imagine a student who wouldn’t question his teacher’s answer – it would be like a teacher who wouldn’t answer his student’s question. And though school can only give you so much, only the tools, nevertheless, with the right tools one can build anything.

Yes, of course, you ask, “What are the right tools”? For some students it can be musical notes; for others, paint brushes; still, for others, a surgeon’s scalpel. Who decides what to teach to whom – what may be right for you may be (and probably is) wrong for me? And vise versa?

Imagine an Education that transcends Knowledge, imagine a Knowledge that transcends Education – it would be an Education and Knowledge of Innocence. Such an education and knowledge (notice the lack of capitalization: they are no longer alone) would not be subjected to the views of Man, nor would the hands of Man design them – they would be, solely, a guide for Man. (Whenever I use the Masculine form, the Feminine is included; it is just out of convenience, and familiarity, that I use it.)

This “form” of “education” (sorry about the use of all these “pseudonyms”) is called the Torah. I can hear the collective groan, but it is true – the Torah transcends manmade curriculums, syllabuses, prospectuses, or any other Latin euphemism for ignorance.

The problem, at least this writer sees it as one, is that the Torah is usually taught in the wrong way. Either it is made out to be archaic, or dogmatic (Is that the same as archaic?), or parochial (The same as dogmatic?), or downright boring (The same as the other three?). But, in truth, the Torah is anything but: it is the most exciting form of education – comparing, of course, only those with which this writer has made his acquaintance – ever known to Man.

As for the Torah being parochial: any and every subject, from the artless Humanities to the human-less Arts, finds itself within the ancient wisdom and modern understanding of its pages – the only, and no small, feat, is finding it.

And once you have found what you are looking for, it is time to start looking again – lest the truth become stale for you.

When this transcendental “edification” will become the “curriculum”, Education will become Knowledgeable and Knowledge will become Educational – with Innocence innocently smiling on the side – and in the middle.