Growing Wiser, Knowing Less: Embracing the Paradox of Wisdom and Humility

By Mark W. Durm

Could our desire for quick answers be preventing us from finding lasting solutions?

GROWING WISER, KNOWING LESS is a collection of essays in which Mark W. Durm addresses provocative social, political, religious, and economic topics. He will challenge your assumptions and provide an expedited path to wisdom. You will l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inicio Press
• Release date: Jun 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781999249052

Book preview

Cover Image: Growing Wiser, Knowing Less

Table of Contents

Title Page

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Religions Should Unite People, Not Divide Them, Part 1

We Can All Learn from ‘Peace, Be Still’ Part 2

No Child Left Behind—Impossible!

The Gulf War: An Illusion of Certainty

A Story About God and Tornadoes

A Father’s Day Special

The Dilemma of Earlier Physical Development

I Pay Eighty-seven Cents an Acre and $836 for One-Third Acre

Misunderstandings All in the Translation

Why Isn’t Christmas on March 25?

Do We Really Live in A Democracy?

New York Is Much Safer Than Alabama

Disturbing Events of Note in Iraq

A Growing Malignancy in the US Military

The Wall between Church and State Should Stand

Have You Seen Kerry or Bush Lately?

A Closer Look at Alabama’s Family Values

People Should Have Candles to Illuminate Life

A Wound That May Not Heal

What Color Is God?

Searching for Sophi in Ukraine

I Found Faith and Hope in Ukraine

America Needs More Purple People

Admitting We Know Less About More

History of Abortion, Part 1

Abortion’s History Since the Time of Christ, Part 2

Evolution: Is It the Handiwork of God? Part 1

Evolution: Is It the Handiwork of God? Part 2

Durm’s Final Thoughts on Evolution’s Evolution, Part 3

The Majority of Americans Favor Abortion

Then I Have a Very Good Mother

The Biggest, Strongest Man in the World

An Alarm Clock, a Bank Robbery, and Lightning

Saying ‘Just Charge It’ Is Dangerous for the US

Children’s Bodies Growing Adult at Early Ages

Where Have the Fathers Gone?

Gun Control: Is It the Answer?

Maybe We Need to Lose and Fail More

Better to Be Ready Than Proverbial

Man Deserves Some Credit, Not Just God

Discussing an Unrecognized Injustice

‘It’s Only Money?’ Federal Government Must Prioritize How It Spends

The Millionaire Next Door, Part 1

The Millionaire in Your House, Part 2

American Revolution

To Live Is Costly…Capital Punishment is Even More Costly

Things That Are True and Things That Are Not

Understanding the Stopped Watch Syndrome

It Was His Time to Go; It’s Easier to Believe in Fate

When Does Behavior Become A Sin?

What Has Happened to the American Dream?

In Academia, There Are Four Kinds of Students

Advance Beyond Your Opinion: The Three Stages of Learning

Get Out and Vote Tuesday—No $50 Jackass Needed Here

The God of Credit

Manipulative Cupid Computer Causes Relationship Problems

Are Lives Considered Equal When American Lives Are at Stake?

An Admitted Wrong as Compared to an Amended Wrong

Just How Religious Is Alabama?

Maggots, Mortgage Loans, Dog Poop, and a Dodge Truck

The Other Resurrections and The Descension Into Hell

Ignorance About Medicine Risks Dying

Two Mules, A Tractor, Texting, and Tweeting

We Grow Up by Learning to Move Upward

Can There Be Different Kinds of Truth?

Growing Wiser and Knowing Less

Cause and Effect: On Growing Wiser and Knowing Less

Beware of Big Numbers: They’re Usually Lies, Part 1

Beware of Big Numbers, Usually Bunch Of Bull, Part 2

Cut Taxes—Where Do We Cut Spending?

Many Owe Health to Cancer Victim

Does Reading This Column Use Your Entire Brain?

Misconception Matters with Infantile Autism

Educators Fall Prey to the Power of Ignorance

Most Resolutions Center Around the Human Emotion of Happiness

ASSIST Serves as Athens State’s ‘Marine Corps’

Could Jesus Have Been Forty-three When He Died?

The Stubbornness of Misinformation, Part 1

The Stubbornness of Misinformation, Part 2

Alabama’s Family Values: A Second Look

Misleading Statistics Lead to Mistaken Thinking

Patriotism and the Type of War

Your Worldview, Stretching, and Rubber Bands

Is America Becoming a Matriarchal Society?

Race, Color, Creed: Is There Such a Thing as ‘Equality?’

Guns Not the Cause of Sandy Hook Shootings

Guns Contribute to Killing People

‘Commencement’ is the Beginning, Not the End

Some Things in Life I Do Not Understand

Better to Have an Inexact Answer

Truth Fragments: Driving and Getting Married

Truth Fragments: Numbers and Television

Truth Fragments: Church Burnings and Female Breast Cancer

Foundations of Easter Part 1

Foundations of Easter Part 2

Foundations of Easter Part 3

About the Author

Landmarks

Cover

Title Page

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Start

About the Author

Growing Wiser

Knowing Less

Embracing the Paradox of Wisdom and Humility

Mark W. Durm

Copyright © 2023 by Mark W. Durm

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Inicio Press

https://www.iniciopress.com/

Growing Wiser, Knowing Less: Embracing the Paradox of Wisdom and Humility

Print ISBN: 978-1-9992490-4-5

Ebook (epub) ISBN: 978-1-9992490-5-2

Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Religions Should Unite People, Not Divide Them: Part 1

We Can All Learn from ‘Peace, Be Still’

No Child Left Behind—Impossible!

The Gulf War: An Illusion of Certainty

A Story About God and Tornadoes

A Father’s Day Special

How one man discovered the fountain of youth

The Dilemma of Earlier Physical Development

I Pay Eighty-seven Cents an Acre and $836 for One-Third Acre

Misunderstandings All in the Translation

Why Isn’t Christmas on March 25?

Do We Really Live in A Democracy?

New York Is Much Safer Than Alabama

Disturbing Events of Note in Iraq

A Growing Malignancy in the US Military

The Wall between Church and State Should Stand

Have You Seen Kerry or Bush Lately?

A Closer Look at Alabama’s Family Values

People Should Have Candles to Illuminate Life

A Wound That May Not Heal

What Color Is God?

Searching for Sophi in Ukraine

I Found Faith and Hope in Ukraine

America Needs More Purple People

Admitting We Know Less About More

History of Abortion Part 1

Abortion’s History Since the Time of Christ

Evolution: Is It the Handiwork of God?

Evolution: Is It the Handiwork of God?

Durm’s Final Thoughts on Evolution’s Evolution

The Majority of Americans Favor Abortion

Then I Have a Very Good Mother

The Biggest, Strongest Man in the World

An Alarm Clock, a Bank Robbery, and Lightning

Saying ‘Just Charge It’ Is Dangerous for the US

Children’s Bodies Growing Adult at Early Ages

Where Have the Fathers Gone?

Gun Control: Is It the Answer?

Maybe We Need to Lose and Fail More

Better to Be Ready Than Proverbial

Man Deserves Some Credit, Not Just God

Discussing an Unrecognized Injustice

‘It’s Only Money?’ Federal Government Must Prioritize How It Spends

The Millionaire Next Door

Part 1

The Millionaire in Your House

Part 2

American Revolution

To Live Is Costly…Capital Punishment is Even More Costly

Things That Are True and Things That Are Not

Understanding the Stopped Watch Syndrome

It Was His Time to Go; It’s Easier to Believe in Fate

When Does Behavior Become A Sin?

What Has Happened to the American Dream?

In Academia, There Are Four Kinds of Students

Advance Beyond Your Opinion: The Three Stages of Learning

Get Out and Vote Tuesday—No $50 Jackass Needed Here

The God of Credit

Manipulative Cupid Computer Causes Relationship Problems

Are Lives Considered Equal When American Lives Are at Stake?

An Admitted Wrong as Compared to an Amended Wrong

Just How Religious Is Alabama?

Maggots, Mortgage Loans, Dog Poop, and a Dodge Truck

The Other Resurrections and The Descension Into Hell

Ignorance About Medicine Risks Dying

Two Mules, A Tractor, Texting, and Tweeting

We Grow Up by Learning to Move Upward

Can There Be Different Kinds of Truth?

Growing Wiser and Knowing Less

Part 1

Cause and Effect: On Growing Wiser and Knowing Less

Part 2

Beware of Big Numbers: They’re Usually Lies

Part 1

Beware of Big Numbers, Usually Bunch Of Bull

Part 2

Cut Taxes—Where Do We Cut Spending?

Many Owe Health to Cancer Victim

Does Reading This Column Use Your Entire Brain?

Misconception Matters with Infantile Autism

Educators Fall Prey to the Power of Ignorance

Most Resolutions Center Around the Human Emotion of Happiness

ASSIST Serves as Athens State’s ‘Marine Corps’

Could Jesus Have Been Forty-three When He Died?

The Stubbornness of Misinformation, Part 1

The Stubbornness of Misinformation, Part 2

Alabama’s Family Values: A Second Look

Misleading Statistics Lead to Mistaken Thinking

Patriotism and the Type of War

Your Worldview, Stretching, and Rubber Bands

Is America Becoming a Matriarchal Society?

Race, Color, Creed: Is There Such a Thing as ‘Equality?’

Guns Not the Cause of Sandy Hook Shootings

Guns Contribute to Killing People

‘Commencement’ is the Beginning, Not the End

Some Things in Life I Do Not Understand

Better to Have an Inexact Answer

Truth Fragments: Driving and Getting Married

Part 1 of 3

Truth Fragments: Numbers and Television

Part 2 of 3

Truth Fragments: Church Burnings and Female Breast Cancer

Part 3 of 3

Foundations of Easter

Part 1 of 3

Foundations of Easter

Part 2 of 3

Foundations of Easter

Part 3 of 3

About the Author

I believe that we must attack the things in which we do not believe. Not attack by the method of cutting off the heads of people, but attack in the sense of discuss. I believe that we should demand that people try in their own minds to obtain for themselves a more consistent picture of their own world; that they not permit themselves the luxury of having their brain cut in four pieces or two pieces even, and on one side they believe this, and on the other side they believe that, but never try to compare the two points of view. Because we have learned that by trying to put the points of view that we have in our head together and comparing one to the other, we make some progress in understanding and in appreciating where we are and what we are.

~Richard Feynman

Dedication

I dedicate this to my deceased parents, Darwin and Odell Durm, who gave me life, and to my three children, Spencer, Sydni, and Sophi, who have made that life interesting and fulfilling.

Acknowledgments

This publication is the product of many people. The staff of the Athens News Courier collectively and Kelly Kazek especially were instrumental in initiating and continuing these essays. At the beginning of 2003, I asked Kelly Kazek if I could submit materials for columns to be included in the Sunday newspaper. She agreed and encouraged me throughout the process.

I commend Celeste Bedingfield, Debbi Kelley, and Nancy Morgan for deciphering my handwriting. In the 16-year span over which the essays were published, these women assisted me in ways that went above and beyond the call of duty. They deserve ribbons for their work on my behalf.

Kenneth Collins, Tracy Hicks, and Jesse Hudgins of the Athens State University Printing Services also deserve recognition.

I am grateful to Linda Tucker, my editor at Cup and Quill Editing and Publication Services, LLC. Her professionalism and expertise were instrumental in moving this project to publication. I also thank the entire staff at Cup and Quill for their encouragement and assistance.

Finally, I acknowledge Spencer, Sydni, and Sophi, my three children, for their patience and encouragement.

To each and all, I could not have done it without you.

Importantly, any errors or mistakes are due to me and not any of the people listed above.

Foreword

This book consists of ninety-six newspaper columns written over sixteen years, from 2003 to 2019. They primarily appeared in the Sunday edition of the Athens News Courier, Athens, Alabama. When one writes, the results usually fall into one of two categories. You can write statements that align with what most people already believe. Such statements make people feel warm, fuzzy, and comfortable. However, such writing changes little, if anything, about how or what they think.

Or you can write to afflict the comfortable, to stir up their minds, and make those brain cells get a little exercise. I prefer the stirring; maybe that is related to being a college professor for forty-five years. I always loved looking into my students’ eyes and seeing the light bulbs switching on between their ears.

The mind is like a rubber band; it can never return to its original size once you stretch it. So, I love stirring, switching, and stretching! So as you read these articles, my hope is to afflict you.

These essays are about life. Due to teaching critical thinking at the university level for many years, many focus on critical thinking or the lack thereof.

There are three columns on Truth Fragments, one of which concerns church burnings and female breast cancer—no, they are not related except in relation to misguided thinking.

There are two on the Stubbornness Of Misinformation, two on Beware Of Big Numbers, Usually A Bunch Of Bull, two on Cause And Effect: On Growing Wiser and Knowing Less, Ignorance About Medicine Risks And Dying, Admitting We Know Less about More, Your World View and Stretching Rubber Bands, and several others.

Several are about family: Is America Becoming A Matriarchal Society, Family Values, Understanding The Stopped Watch Syndrome, Where Have All The Fathers Gone, Children’s Bodies Growing Adult At Earlier Ages, The Biggest, Strongest Man I Know, Then I Have A Very Good Mother, and others.

Several are about religion: three columns on the Foundations Of Easter, Was Jesus 43 When He Died?’; What Is The Color Of God?, When Does Behavior Become A Sin?, A Story About God And Tornadoes, Why Isn’t Christmas On March 25th, Religions Should Unite People Not Divide Them," and others.

Some of my more controversial essays, judged from the community’s response, combined religion and critical thinking. There are three entitled Evolution, Is It The Handiwork Of God, It Was Just His Time To Go-It’s Easier To Believe In Fate, Man Deserves Some Credit, Not Just God, and Misunderstandings All In The Translation, Better To Be Ready Than Proverbial, An Admitted Wrong As Compared To An Amended Wrong, and others.

Some essays are centered around politics. Two of my favorite ones are entitled America Needs More Purple People and Cut Taxes-Where Do We Cut Spending?. Others are The Wall Between Church And State Should Stand, Do We Really Live In A Democracy, and others.

Finally, the Society of America has its essays also. One is about Guns, another is entitled Patriotism And The Type Of War, others include Many Owe Health To Cancer Victims (the victim was Henrietta Lacks, an African American lady); The God Of Credit, Maggots, Mortgage Loans, Dog Poop, And A Dodge Truck, there are two articles on the History Of Abortion, and others.

Readers can read the essays in whatever order they prefer based on what catches their interest in the Table of Contents. May you stir, switch, and stretch to your heart’s and mind’s content. Perhaps you’ll discover, as I did, that the more you learn, the less you know. I invite you to embrace the journey toward growing wiser and knowing less.

Religions Should Unite People, Not Divide Them: Part 1

Part 1 of 2

Article #1

The News Courier, February 9, 2003

Approximately two billion Christians and one to two billion Muslims live in this world. Neither side will be able to convert the other. They must learn to have mutual respect and acceptance. They must, as Jesus said, treat others as they want to be treated—the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). They must, as the Koran reads, be expected to give full measure if they wish to receive full measure (83:1). That is their Golden Rule.

The Koran acknowledges Jesus. He is mentioned approximately twenty-five times in the Koran.

The Muslims do not believe he was the Son of God, but they do praise him greatly. For instance, his birth (3:45-47; 19:22-33), his message and miracles (5:110; 19:30-33), his righteousness as a prophet (6:85), the compassion and mercy of his followers (57:27), and many more aspects of his life are told.

Christians, on the other hand, know very little, if anything, about Muhammad. Moreover, very few Christians have read or even looked at the Koran. They should.

Religions should unite people, not divide them. Life is sacred to Islam and Christianity (Koran 17:33; Matthew 19:14), and both highly value forgiveness (Koran 42:37; Matthew 9:2).

The agreements between the Bible and the Koran are many. The two religions must emphasize their commonalities and not their differences.

The Koran in 2:62 reads:

Those who believe (in the Koran). And those who follow the Jewish (scripture)

And the Christians and the Sabians.

Any who believe in Allah

And the Last Day

And work righteousness,

Shall have their reward

With their Lord on them

Shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.

These verses from the Koran reveal that Islam recognizes other religions.

As a matter of fact, in 5:82-85, the Koran says Christians are nearest in love to Islam.

My great-grandmother, Nannie Spencer Snell, had a religious philosophy that would benefit the world. If she learned that an individual had different religious views, she would respond, Well, that is him and his God. She said this with love, respect, and acceptance. She said this because of the peace she had in her heart. She knew that peace between family members and nations comes from acceptance.

My great-grandmother believed very strongly in Matthew 5:9, which reads, Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

The Koran offers in 8:61, But if the enemy incline toward peace do thou (also) incline toward peace….

We Can All Learn from ‘Peace, Be Still’

Part 2 of 2

Article #2

The News Courier, February 16, 2003

Religions should work together for peace. Peace will come through acceptance of each other.

Muslims are even instructed to live in peace with non-believers. The Koran in 60:8-9 reads as follows:

Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who Fight you not for (your) Faith… From dealing kindly and justly with them: For Allah loveth Those who are just.

Allah only forbids you.

With regard to those who (do)

Fight you for (your) Faith