As someone who has spent a considerable amount of time and energy in my life acquiring knowledge, one of the more sobering aspects of discussions of knowledge is the way that the Bible often tends to be rather cautionary concerning the value of knowledge. On the one hand, a zeal not according to knowledge is not praised because having passion without understanding is unwise, but on the other hand, knowledge itself is not viewed as being an unmixed blessing. One of the unfortunate qualities that tends to come with being a person conspicuously gifted with knowledge is the fact that other people readily assume that one is arrogant and puffed up because one has a lot of knowledge. When I read the warnings about being puffed up about knowledge, I think they are best viewed as a reminder for us to be careful about our own attitudes and mindset concerning knowledge and the degree that we think our knowledge makes us special in comparison to those who do not have such knowledge. In contrast, I do not think it is wise or charitable to view these warnings as a club to use against those who we perceive as being knowledgeable, as if we were privileged to know the state of their own heart and their own attitude concerning the knowledge which they possess.

How do we act when we possess knowledge that others may not? In my experience, at least, such as it is, I have often found that those who are the quickest to accuse others of arrogance regarding the knowledge that they have are often the least aware of their own unpleasant behavior when they have been told something that is not general knowledge. For the most part, our time and attention and focus are limited in such a way that we can either devote ourselves to examining ourselves and improving our own attitudes and behavior or spent in fruitless and often baseless accusations against other people that serves mainly as projection for what is inside of us that we assume other people have, without recognizing our own problems. Those who are the most attuned to the supposed specks in other eyes are the most dim-sighted about the beams that are in their own eyes, beams that are impossible for others not to notice but which are often not commented on by others because it is viewed as useless to bring something to the attention of someone who thinks themselves blameless and lacking serious flaw while considering themselves an expert on what others are doing wrong.

When we possess knowledge that others do not, there are generally a few factors at play that ought to be considered. For one, we may be the sort of people who have been given minds that learn easily and retain information well and allow us to recall what we have read or learned very easily. Such gifts are to be appreciated, but are not ones that we can brag about possessing. To the extent that we have spent a great deal of time and effort gathering information, there is always a question to be considered if that time and effort and energy could have been better spent in other areas, as not all areas of knowledge are equally worthwhile. Often, we have knowledge because we have been blessed with opportunities to develop our understanding through instruction by others or having good examples around us to learn from, or having access to books and other instructional aids that have provided us with knowledge that is not necessarily accessible to everyone else. A recognition of the larger social context in which we have learned what we know leads us to be generous in praising those who have taken the time and energy to teach us and guide us rather than to be arrogant about having acquired knowledge that many others have not, for whatever reason.

We must also consider, when we think of ourselves as possessors of great and uncommon knowledge, what our attitude is to that knowledge. Do we consider our knowledge and expertise as something to be jealously guarded and protected, rationed out to others in small quantities so as to not threaten our own dominant position as knowledgeable people, or do we consider knowledge as a gift that was freely given to us and therefore something that we in turn ought to give generously to others? Do we lord it over others and seek to make others feel inferior when we are in a privileged position of knowledge while others around us are in ignorance, or are we patient in seeking to remove the fog of ignorance from others as we have the time and opportunity to do so? When we find people who are obviously the possessors of a high degree of knowledge, our attitude towards them will often depend on our perception of their attitude towards that knowledge and how it relate to us. To the extent that others are generous with their knowledge and quick to share their knowledge with us in the building of a community of people interested in growth and improvement, we can celebrate such people as being wise and generous and good. To the extent that others view knowledge as a scarce resource to be hoarded and shared only with a privileged elite, such people are the common enemies of humanity, especially of those people whom they deny knowledge and then look down upon for being ignorant, for which they themselves are in large part to blame. Rather than point fingers at others, let us examine ourselves and see whether we are in the business of puffing up ourselves or building up those around us.