Thirty-Second Day of Lent: Silence and Learning

For a summary of Passus XIII, see Twelfth Day of Lent.

After Will awakes in Passus XIII from his dream-within-a-dream, he encounters Imagination, who gives him some insight on why he was rebuked at the end of the dream by Reason:

“Adam, while he spoke not, had paradise at will

But when he rambled on about food and mused to know

God’s wisdom and his knowledge, he was put out of bliss.

So Reason treated you for your rude speech,

Because you yearned to understand the why of Reason’s secrets:

For your pride, your presumption of living perfectly

Reason there shunned you and would not lodge with you,

Nor Theology with his thought be bothered with you at all.

For never shall a fool be chastened well, unless he feels some shame.

For let a drunken fool fall in the ditch,

Let him lie there, look to him not till he desires to rise;

For even though Reason rebuke him then, he cares not a bit,

Neither Theology nor Common Sense he reckons worth a rush.

To blame him or to beat him then I hold it but a sin.

But when Need snatches him up, he suddenly is shamed

And then he knows what for and why he is to blame.”

Curiosity is generally considered a virtue in our world today, even if it may have killed the cat.  “Yearning to understand the why of Reason’s secrets,” which Imagination chides Will for here, is the driving principle of scientific inquiry, and we all, to some degree or another, put trust in the fruits of such inquiry to better the lot of human existence.  It’s easy to read these words from the Middle Ages and conjure up the popular caricature (almost wholly unfounded in historical fact) of a “dark age” where closed-minded religious authorities suppressed the human desire to learn and invent.  For some of us, it may even conjure up childhood memories of pastors and teachers who did discourage us from asking questions and did seem eager to squelch our desire to learn and know.

But is Imagination really just telling Will not to ask questions, period?  Throughout the poem we have found that one of Langland’s central messages is that when our curious speculations become unmoored from the life and truth of Jesus Christ we can find ourselves excusing and encouraging grave injustices or falling into the deepest despair, especially when we do so hastily and arrogantly, with Recklessness.  Imagination’s advocacy of silence has a similar aim in mind.  Imagination doesn’t chide Will simply for prying into secrets he’s not supposed to know, but for doing so without the proper humility.  Will demands answers of Reason, arrogantly thinking he’s not just ready for, but entitled to them, puffing himself up on the presumption of his “perfect living.”  But Reason knows unless he learns some humility, he will not make good use of any really valuable instruction.

Anyone who’s a teacher or researcher, indeed anyone who’s ever learned anything, knows that humility is essential for coming to new knowledge.  We have to be aware of our own ignorance as well as willing to accept the things we can’t know in order to learn anything at all.  And of course we have to stop talking ourselves if we’re ever going to hear anything.  It is in this way that curiosity and pride are impediments to learning and knowledge.  Learning is about receiving and being illuminated, while curiosity wants to take and pride just wants to shine its own light.

We know this from practical experience, but often we are bad about applying this common sense to what we learn and receive from God.  We pile up words and phrases in our prayers, whether mentally or aloud, and then we wonder why we receive no word from the Lord.  We expend our energies speculating on things far from the life of Jesus Christ and we end up building a faith around homosexuality or the theory of evolution or how to raise successful children instead of having the humility to receive the heart of our faith from the scriptures of God.  We interrogate the Bible for answers instead of listening to it to find our questions.  But the path to true knowledge is paved with open ears, a closed mouth, and a humble heart.

“The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
and good news refreshes the body.
The ear that heeds wholesome admonition
will lodge among the wise.
Those who ignore instruction despise themselves,
but those who heed admonition gain understanding.
The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom,
and humility goes before honor.”  (Proverbs 15:30-33)