Jessica N's Response to "Zeal Without Knowledge"

Wow. This article was exactly what I needed to hear. As I read the closing line of “May God help us all in the days of our probation to seek the knowledge he wants us to seek,” a lot of the things I’ve been thinking about fell into place. Mostly the fact that I have no idea what I want to choose as a major and that thought has been bothering me lately. To get somewhere I need to have a goal, and being without a major sometimes feels like I’m working hard…but to what end? What is it I am trying to accomplish in this life, why was I sent here at this time to BYU, what do I want to gain from my time here? I could go on and on about the questions I have, but instead I will say what this article answered for me.

First off that I am here to gain knowledge for the eternities. Not for a job, not for money, but for the eternities. What is a job for money compared to knowledge for the rest of eternity? As Hugh Nibley says “If you’re so zealous in such matters [things of the world], why can’t you take your eternal future seriously?” Of course, being a college student money gets tight and I want a profession that will pay the bills- but is that what will most benefit me? While reading I understood that if I have the faith to choose a profession that will help me grow the most eternally, then things will then work out temporally. That may mean choosing a career that won’t be glamorous or pay in the sight of the world. The short time of probation on this earth is a time of learning and growth, and in the eternal scheme of things as long as I choose what I feel will most benefit me and others in this world and the world to come, I will be making the right decision.

Secondly, I was hit hard by the section stating that how I spend every moment of my short probation on earth is a test of my character. What am I doing with my time? Am I spending it in the best way possible? When I look back on my short time of probation, will I say I spent it after worthwhile things? I’ve come to realize the important things, what really matters, are not always what I spend time on. Those few minutes on facebook, watching youtube, television, all those things that take up my time that are not necessarily “bad” are taking away from my potential. I can be so much more: I just have to put the time and effort into becoming so. The friendships I make, the knowledge I gain, the spiritual growth: those are the things that matter. Everything else is well and good, but not necessarily imperative to my eternal progression. There is so much knowledge out there, knowledge that I thirst after, and that is what I should be spending my time on.

The last thought from this reading that answered some of my questions was when Hugh Nibley stated: “If we try to settle for a milder program at lower stakes and safer risks, we are immediately slapped and buffeted by a power that will not let us rest.” I’ve lately felt that need to push myself, to do more and accomplish more. I think when I hit a plateau of learning that is the only way to go: upwards. As I push through a difficult time and make it through, my options are to stay where I am or keep pushing onward. And there’s the part of me that wants to keep pushing onward, to become better and do all I possibly can in my time here on earth. I think that is the zealous portion of learning. The knowledge part? The knowledge part I think is accomplished by actively seeking after learning.
Learning is a lifelong process; it’s not something that we will be finished with after college. Learning is a part of our entire lives. We are potential Gods, and staying on a safe level is not characteristic of a potential God. We are continually tested because we have so much potential. We have to earnestly seek after knowledge, and as we do so, we will be given it. As we learn new knowledge, we will be able to learn more knowledge that was before unavailable to us because of our lack of knowledge. As we gain more knowledge, we are able to learn more, and more, until we learn things we didn’t think ourselves capable of when we first began learning. I compare it to the knowledge I had as a child to the knowledge I have now, and compare it to the knowledge I have now to the knowledge I will someday have. I could not comprehend as a child what I know now, and I can’t comprehend now what I will one day know in the future.

The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. As I learn, I realize how much there is to learn. And how much human beings don’t know. There is so much to learn out there and as both zeal and knowledge is applied, we can progress onward to gain even more knowledge in this life, which will help us in the next.