Knowledge, Wisdom, and the Place of Divine Truth

A Philosophical Essay in the Perspective of Soyo's Existence Ethics on the Relationship Among Knowledge, Wisdom, Faith, and Theology

Knowledge Is Not Wisdom

Knowledge is the system of understanding that sustains human life in the world. Human beings, to survive and to live better, have studied, recorded, and explained the phenomena of the world. That process is knowledge. Yet knowledge cannot be equated with wisdom. Knowledge is the language that analyzes phenomena, while wisdom is the inner awakening connected to the truth of human existence. Many confuse those who excel in academic knowledge with those who are wise, but that is a mistake. Wisdom is not the sum of accumulated knowledge; it is the deep reflection gained when a human being confronts existence and the world. Even so, this wisdom is bound by a clear human limitation.

The Boundary of Human Wisdom

Human wisdom encounters an insurmountable wall. However much humans develop knowledge or accumulate wisdom, they inevitably face its limit. At that very boundary, human wisdom and divine wisdom part ways. Yet this parting is not mere severance. It opens the way to longing upward, the yearning gaze toward what lies beyond human capacity. At that limit, a human being admits what is unknown and raises their eyes toward a higher wisdom. Religion has called this attitude “faith.” Yet this longing is not simply a religious act; it is the primal instinct of the soul reaching beyond its own boundaries toward the wisdom of God.

Divine Wisdom and the Shock of the Soul

Worldly wisdom endlessly yearns for divine wisdom. For this reason, humanity has ceaselessly sought to grasp the divine through knowledge, philosophy, religion, and theology. Yet divine wisdom cannot be attained through human scholarship. Rather, it is already planted within the conscience, embedded in the ethics of existence. Divine wisdom descends when the human soul, in longing and yearning for God, encounters in its deepest core an intellectual and spiritual shock. This shock is not a mere heightening of thought or emotion, but the moment when existence realizes its own limits and awakens to a new dimension. It dismantles every human concept and awakens the soul to what it could never grasp on its own.

Revelation in Suffering

Such divine awakening always comes in suffering and sorrow. Humanity does not perceive truth in moments of prosperity. It is in failure, despair, and the valley of tears that truth is unveiled. Suffering becomes the teacher that awakens existence; sorrow comes as the face of the healer. Yet countless theological analyses and religious constructs have often confined this simple and powerful encounter to confusion. Instead of bearing witness to God, human religion has produced institutions and dogmas that end up worshiping gods of its own making. Thus God has been distorted within human conceptual systems, and true faith has been forgotten.

Faith Is Not Action

To believe in God does not mean to fulfill certain deeds or obligations. Faith is not institutional conformity nor conditional obedience. Faith is revealed only through confession and the obedience of love. Confession is the acknowledgment of human ignorance; obedience is the acceptance of God dwelling within. Faith is not humanity’s journey toward God, but the event of God coming to humanity. Humanity cannot reach God on its own; rather, faith comes into being when God Himself seeks human existence. Thus, faith is not the work of man but the response of existence receiving divine grace.

Divine Presence and the Ethics of Existence

God is not distant but already dwells within existence. In suffering, in conscience, in the depths of love, God is present. The one who experiences this presence no longer wanders at the edge of knowledge. Such a person lives the truth that existence itself is ethics, and shines forever like the brightest star among the stars of the universe. True theology must testify to this reality. If theology remains bound to academic analysis or doctrinal structures, it turns once more into the idolatry of human wisdom. Theology must become the language of confession to God’s love in existence, living truth, and the witness of the ethics of being.

Theology That Gives Life to Existence

Knowledge may explain humanity, but it cannot save it. Wisdom may grant self-awareness, but it cannot lead the soul into eternity. Only divine wisdom makes human existence radiant. God is not concerned with what humanity has accomplished. What matters is whether humanity confesses and obeys in love, whether it abides in Him. This is true faith. Theology must not merely explain faith; it must confess faith as the testimony of existence. Only such theology can save humanity, renew ethics, and lead existence into eternity.

Summary of the Essay

This essay affirms the limits of human wisdom and reveals that the true nature of faith is the attitude of longing for divine wisdom at that boundary. God is not one whom humanity discovers by its own actions, but the One who comes to humanity. True faith is not intellectual accumulation or institutional practice, but the confession and obedience of love. Theology is not analysis or speculation, but the living confession of truth bearing witness to the ethics of existence and the presence of divine love.

Soyo (逍遙) – Founder of Soyo's Existence Ethics, Author of The Silence of Existence, The Flame of Truth

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