Understanding

Every now and then I feel a desire to understand all things and all people. All benevolent understanding, at least, and for that understanding to be complete. I think how a marvellous thing that would be to know all good things and all true things.

Also, every now and then, and sometimes at the same time as the first desire, I feel a desire that everyone in the world would have understanding of all things, everything good and everything true. And that understanding to be complete. (Because incomplete understanding was Adam and Eve's downfall.)

First that people would understand all the good things that I know if they don't already, because the idea that people don't know all the good things I know saddens me, and because I find the limitations of communicating those things frustrating to me. And also all good things I don't know, because I'm not so arrogant in thinking that I know all things that's worth knowing, or even the best of things.

I desire these things for their own sakes, but at the same time I imagine how much better the world would be, and that there need not be any fighting because everyone would already know what is right.

Being a Christian, I have had a hope that this would be what heaven would be like. Or one aspect of heaven, anyway. I still hope that.

But the other day, I had a daydream. Although the word "daydream" might be misleading, as it wasn't a daydream where I was creating a fantasy in my head, maybe more like a vision. But "vision" would also be misleading, because that would give it greater status than it has. I suppose I will call it an "imagining".

I had an imagining that all those things were true, that everyone understood all goodness and all truth, and that despite this, little had changed. Everyone was still fighting, people were still killing each other, there was still hatred and famine and injustice, and the world was still a mess. A part of me realised that understanding does not equal wisdom, and that even if people knew and understood goodness and truth, and recognised it as such, there would be people who'd still choose evil and falseness anyway.

I don't know if this imagining had any truth in it, but it made me sad.

But it means that no matter what, there is always choice, and in the end, that's what it will come down to. Our choices.