I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom
more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced
much of wisdom and knowledge.” Then I applied myself to the
understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that
this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
For with
much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 1:16-18
the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 1:16-18
Solomon
makes the point that getting smarter doesn’t make you wiser. Intelligence is the accumulation of
information. Wisdom is the application
of experience.
Smart
people know what to do but don’t necessarily apply what they’ve learned.
College
pushes the consumption of information, but usually fails in teaching students
how to live life better, unless a better job means a better life to them.
Also,
intelligent people accumulate only a certain type of information that they want
to acquire and leave out what they don’t think matters. This is biased information-gathering and can
miss the truth, basing their intelligence on emotion and feelings.
Colleges
hire professors who fit a certain mold and communicate a certain agenda so you
have to be careful.
Solomon’s
final point in verse 18 says the more we know, the sadder we become. That is true.
When we dig deep into any issue, we discover heartache, betrayal, dead-ends
and cover-ups.
Colleges
have a high suicide rate as pressure and expectation push people to the
brink. Some who go to college do come to
the realization that their own lives are meaningless, falling short and put
themselves in last place.
Going
to a college where you feel God called you, doing something you feel God wants
you to do, and reaching people at college for Jesus Christ, gives the college
experience lots of meaning.