Saturday, October 15, 2022

The Thrill and Skill of Learning

My brother and I have been playing a game called Tunic, which is deliberately unclear about many of its secrets and mechanics. In fact, a large portion of the fun of the game is in discovering the secrets and surprises the game hides. The game would be much less fun, interesting, and satisfying if it told the player everything from the very beginning, instead of withholding information.

I wonder if that's part of the reason why God withholds information from us. Naturally, there's some knowledge we're simply not ready for, but there may be other information God is willing to let us know, but that He makes contingent on us finding it. This allows us the thrill of discovery and the experience of using our observations and our reason to find knowledge that we previously didn't have. If God told us everything right from the start, we'd never have an opportunity to learn, and we'd never learn how to learn.

So, while there's certainly information I'd like God to give me, I think I'm glad He instead gave me the opportunity to learn some things for myself. Knowledge is important, but the skill of gaining knowledge may be even more important. (And also, the thrill of learning is fun. It'd be a shame to spoil that with omnipotence all at once.)

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