"Recovering and Discovering Truth"

I often search the Ensign for various topics of interest to me. This morning I did a search on the word "seeking". I did not have a definite idea of what I myself was seeking, but I was curious about what I would find by searching for that one word.

While I found many articles and speeches from the Ensign, one that particularly caught my eye was by Edwin Brown Firmage and appeared in the April 1981 issue of the magazine. The title is "Recovering and Discovering Truth". Elder Firmage's topic is encapsulated in his first paragraph:

I had an experience some time ago that led me to think and to pray intensely. The whole incident caused me to reflect on the ways we gain knowledge from our Heavenly Father, and on the intimate relationship that exists between intellectual and spiritual means of acquiring knowledge.

That interests me--the intimate relationship between intellectual and spiritual means of acquiring knowledge. Here are two more paragraphs from near the end of the article:

This very process argues against the false idea that prayer, study, and meditation, or deep thought are merely attempts to convince oneself of a particular principle. To the person who is sensitive to divine communication, pure revelation floods the very being in a way that makes it unmistakable. Whether the truth be in science, philosophy, or religion, that knowledge is now his in a way that it was not before. Again, Einstein said of faith: “Real faith, either to a scientist or a businessman or a minister of religion, involves the problem and struggle of searching.” The Lord said to Joseph and Oliver that “you must study it out in your mind.”

and

Finally, I have learned that one must use the truth he possesses before asking for more. An ancient Tibetan proverb says, “He who knows and fails to practice the precepts is like a man who lights a lamp in the darkness and then closes his eyes.” We have a loving Heavenly Father who possesses all knowledge. He is willing to share it with us as fast as we are able to obtain it by worthy effort and then truly make it “ours” by living it.

In the article, Elder Firmage quotes various philosophers giving their thoughts about where knowledge comes from. It makes for an interesting article.

I believe that our Heavenly Father does bless mankind with intellectual knowledge as well as spiritual knowledge. He is not limited to only things of the spirit. I also believe that He expects us to put forth a lot of effort to learn as much as we can and to think about what we've learned and how it can be applied to solve a problem or to answer a question before He will send to us the necessary missing knowledge.

What are your thoughts about this?