In this section of their book, Social Construction of Reality, Berger and Luckmann share their thoughts on the sociology of knowledge in everyday life. The authors explain that, “everyday life presents itself as a reality interpreted by men and subjectively meaningful to them as a coherent world.” Knowledge of the world is nothing but what man has interpreted it to be. We study light, rocks, sounds, etc. according to how we perceive them to be. Like religion, we explain things in a way that makes sense to us. As a race, we have no being to tell us what things are or how to live. We have holy writings that help us understand our world, but these were written as interpretations of the men who wrote them.
Upon development of language, man declared that a rock was hard, but what is “hard” in the word itself. Interaction between man and his environment ignited a fire to understand and conquer the surroundings, to overcome that which he could not yet explain. Now, man believes he understands everything. What great epiphany did man have between the time of cavemen and the intellectual thinkers of today? Man can look back at the early writings and beliefs of other men, but is that knowledge? Is discovering more about the world actually learning? Or is it just more to be in wonderment about?
The quote mentioned above states that life is “subjectively meaningful.” From birth, we are given standards to base our life on. This is supposed to be our reference point with which to compare the meaning and purpose of our life. Social constructions may hinder us from following our path of knowledge, of the truth. Preconceived notions of what is right and wrong are forced on unsuspecting victims. I do this myself to my own child by teaching him about Christ. Is this wrong? Despite what I have just said, my own convictions about life, knowledge, and the truth tell me that I should help my son see the reality of how life is. However, if I were to be honest, I would have to admit that this is my reality. It would pain me for Mason to reject Christ, but the Bible commands us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.
I think it important to include a point that was discussed in my religion 400 class. For those who believe in Christ and the plan of salvation, can one make a conscious decision to follow Christ whenever they choose? This refers to the concept of knowledge. Men believe they have all the answers to life and its creation. They have calculated the world to be an exact formula. However, I realize that the truth is that human beings are not perfect in any way. If I had only the reality of man to rely on, to put my ultimate trust in for eternity, I would be of all men most miserable. I believe a God greater than anything imaginable created our existence and everything concerning it. I cannot, by my own feeble mind, choose to save myself. I believe I must be led by the feelings in my heart to choose that which is good and right (for me).
Knowledge is construed to be something it is not. Knowledge is not knowing, but rather acknowledging that we don’t know. We can only explain things we have an understanding of. Things we have explained to ourselves. I am mystified by the depth of the human mind and heart as well the far galaxies and planets. To describe all this solely in the capacity of words would be to reduce the effect as well as the importance of those very things which make us, human.
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