Avoiding the Tree of Knowledge

Recently, I started an adult Sunday School lesson on the Fall of Adam and Eve by saying “Today we are going to partake of the Tree of Knowledge.” I then took a big bite of a juicy red apple. After savoring the taste, I offered another apple to a class member sitting in the front row. He refused to take it.

I then offered the apple to anyone in the room. No one accepted it. One person called out, “Get thee behind me Satan.” I smiled and then said, “I am worried that many of us may have learned the wrong lesson from the story of Adam and Eve.”

Of course this object lesson was planned in advance. And I had even anticipated that no one would take the apple when I offered it. I immediately told them that perhaps their response was because I didn’t make it clear that I was playing the role of Eve, not Satan. But, I emphasized, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints need to remember that the correct response, when Eve offers knowledge to Adam, is to accept it.

The importance of knowledge

We are not supposed to avoid the Tree of Knowledge AFTER we have left the Garden of Innocence. The pursuit of knowledge is our only way to overcome the effects of the Fall and return to our Father.

A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power in the other world, as evil spirits will have more knowledge, and consequently more power than many men who are on the earth.

Joseph Smith, April 10, 1842, History of the Church, 4:588

Why do people resist learning?

… I am left to mourn because of the unbelief, and the wickedness, and the ignorance, and the stiffneckedness of men; for they will not search knowledge, nor understand great knowledge, when it is given unto them in plainness, even as plain as word can be.

2 Nephi 32:7

We learn in three ways: 1. Through trial and error, 2. By mirroring models around us, and 3. By being explicitly taught.

Even when we are being explicitly taught, we must internalize what we have learned and let it change our behavior. This usually requires practice, so we go back to the trial-and-error stage. Rehearsal (such as learning to play the piano) is a form of trial and error, but it can be more focused and productive if it comes after some form of instruction.

The problem is that both learning and applying what we have learned takes effort (work). This is why most people generally do not seek out learning on a daily basis.

Spreading ignorance

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

George Carlin

Smart people have long had the ability to spread their ideas. They invented the pen, the printing press, radio, and television. They built libraries and universities. They also created mechanisms to help minimize error, such as the scientific method, peer review, journalistic standards, and editorial boards.

However, by inventing the Internet, smart people have given a large microphone to the ignorant and the unethical. The ignorant are not only easy prey for the unethical manipulators of the new media, they willingly participate in spreading the lies and propaganda. Doing this can make petty, small, insecure people feel empowered.

Anti-Intellectualism in the US

Definition: American anti-intellectualism is a social attitude that systematically denigrates science-based facts, academic and institutional authorities, and the pursuit of theory and knowledge.

Edric Huang et.al.

Definition: American anti-intellectualism is a resentment and suspicion of the life of the mind and of those who are considered to represent it; and a disposition constantly to minimize the value of that life.”

Richard Hofstadter

Anti-intellectualism has a long history in the United States. It has its roots in the rise of American evangelical Christianity. Evangelical Protestantism arose in opposition to the established institutions of the Catholic Church and the Church of England. A large part of that rebellion was a revolt against the books and the schools provided by those churches.

Evangelical Protestantism has continued to incubate religious anti-rationalism to the present day. A prominent historical example of this is the controversy that arose over the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species in 1859.

A more current example of populist anti-intellectualism in the United States would be the blatant lies and the anti-science rhetoric inherent in Trumpism and on Faux News.

Faith vs. knowledge?

It is not unusual, among both believers and non-believers, to presume that religious faith and scientific rationalism are opposites. The rational often consider religious faith to be irrational, while the faithful often consider scientific rationalism to be unfaithful.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should not fall into either of these polarized camps. The Mormon Pioneer settlers of Utah built schools, universities, and libraries as well as churches and temples.

In the Book of Mormon, Alma chapter 32 contains the prophet Alma’s great sermon on faith. We learn from these verses that faith, the “hope for things which are not seen, which are true,” (verse 21) is the starting point for the growth of knowledge. Faith is likened to the planting of a seed that grows into a tree of knowledge.

And now, behold, because ye have tried the experiment, and planted the seed, and it swelleth and sprouteth, and beginneth to grow, ye must needs know that the seed is good.
And now, behold, is your knowledge perfect? Yea, your knowledge is perfect in that thing, and your faith is dormant; and this because you know, for ye know that the word hath swelled your souls, and ye also know that it hath sprouted up, that your understanding doth begin to be enlightened, and your mind doth begin to expand.

Alma 32:33-34

This is completely consistent with the scientific method. One starts with a hypothesis and then seeks evidence and runs experiments to verify and support it. Scientists themselves acknowledge the role that faith plays in the process- especially at the beginning of an inquiry.

Seek knowledge

The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge: but the mouth of fools feedeth on foolishness.

Proverbs 15:14

Faith is not the opposite of knowledge; it is actually the first step on the path to knowledge. It we truly claim to be Saints, it is our solemn (and joyful!) responsibility to continuously expand our knowledge and seek further enlightenment. We shouldn’t rest on the first step.

And, finding there was greater happiness and peace and rest for me, I sought for the blessings of the fathers, and the right whereunto I should be ordained to administer the same; having been myself a follower of righteousness, desiring also to be one who possessed great knowledge, and to be a greater follower of righteousness, and to possess a greater knowledge, …

Abraham 1:2

Sources

Edric Huang, Jenny Dorsey, Claire Mosteller, Emily Chen, “Understanding Anti-Intellectualism in the U.S.,” StudioATAO, September 4, 2020.
Richard Hofstadter, Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, 432 pages, Vintage, May 20, 1963. (Note: This book was the 1964 winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Non-Fiction.)