Man has a constant thirst for knowledge.

We want to know everything, from where do we come from, to how does a bird know the way to fly 3000 miles on a path never before traveled. There are more books written than there are people, or so it seems.

The study and research of life around us and beyond us has created an industry almost too large to measure. For instance, Google has 196,000 listings for studies and books on the mating practices of insects, and we are constantly bombarded with all this knowledge which has been discovered. Science has become one of the ruling factors in life as we know it, at least in our part of the world.

But I ask you, what does science and knowledge matter to a nomadic herdsman in Africa, or a Tibetan farmer who would not have access to this science because they could not afford it at any rate.

Don't get me wrong, I love to learn and hear about new discoveries and all the benefits that science can provide, but I think we put it on a pedestal way out of proportion to a holistic life.

As much as we honour science, it really has no place in the mind and heart of a person dying of terminal cancer, he really doesn't think about whether he was created or if he evolved from a slug who wanted out of the water. What does matter, is community, relationships, where he is going after death, and other matters of the heart.

Try as they might with electrical impulses going from the right side of the brain to the left, and a billion little endorphins or whatever racing around in our bodies, they cannot and will not be able to explain the spirit of man with science.

A couple of weeks ago, as we were preparing supper at the kitchen, a young lady came bouncing into the kitchen, and I mean bouncing. We last saw her several months ago, cracked out and selling herself, hair bedraggled, and thin as a rail. The change we now saw in her appearance was overwhelming, and the joy in her face was absolutely radiant.

"Four months" she almost shouted, "would you believe I've been clean for four months, I feel so good". She hugged everyone in sight, and as she was leaving, I asked her if someday I could tell her story. "You bet", she replied, "I want everyone to know."

I can tell you this much, she did not care one wit about science, knowledge, or anything else we deem so important, all that mattered was that she had defeated a great stronghold in her life, even if it has only been four months.

She may fall again, but she has known and experienced victory, and KNOWS, that with the support of a loving, caring community, she can pick herself up again.

That my friends is knowledge as I see it.

— Chris