By Father John Bayer, O. Cist.
Special to The Texas Catholic
Is curiosity a good thing? As modern men and women, I think we are used to thinking of curiosity as an unqualified good. We might even be tempted to dismiss people who focus on only a few things as close-minded.
But is curiosity really a good thing? Ancient and medieval monks were suspicious of the unintegrated pursuit of knowledge. They never had a chance to follow their curiosity by clicking through one video or hyperlink after the next, and yet they still knew that the unordered, aimless pursuit of novelty was harmful.
Interestingly, the AI race seems to be provoking some companies and countries to bridle their search for knowledge. Whereas a former age might have seen any limitations upon science and technology as a violation of academic freedom, we now hear the scientists and technologists themselves asking for limitations.
The Cistercian monk St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) also lived at an intellectually exciting time. In the 12th century, new universities were springing up across Europe, and the intellectual leaders of the western world were coming into dialogue with the ancient inheritance of Greece, as well as with Jewish and Muslim scholars from the East. New horizons for science and technology were opening, and people were charmed by the desire to learn.
St. Bernard thus sometimes had to encourage others not to idolize knowledge. Scientific knowledge is good, but it is only a relative good; that is, the goodness of scientific knowledge is not something to be pursued at all costs. Practical knowledge (or what St. Bernard calls “the craftsman’s art”) is great, and so too is the knowledge cultivated for its own sake (or “the liberal arts”). To be sure, St. Bernard was “not unmindful of the benefits” that “scholars conferred, and still confer, on the Church” (Homily 36 on the Song of Songs). But he nonetheless insisted there should be an “order” to our studies, and that “order implies that we give precedence to all that aids spiritual progress; … that we pursue more eagerly all that strengthens love more; and … that we pursue it not through vainglory or inquisitiveness or any base motive, but for the welfare of oneself or one’s neighbor.” So, even though scientific knowledge is good, we must relativize or integrate it under love.
People who let their curiosity lead them to pursue knowledge aimlessly are not doing good; instead, they should “desire to know for the purpose of doing good.”
We can make distinctions even among those who pursue knowledge for the purpose of doing good, because there is also an order or hierarchy to the good things in life. For example, we will not lose our eternal salvation if we are ignorant of mathematics or history; but if we are ignorant about ourselves or about God, then we can easily fall into spiritual ruin. If a man does not know himself, then he does not know the greatness to which he is called. And if he does not know his calling, how can he follow it? In addition, if he does not know his weaknesses and sins, then he will not ask for mercy. We need humility to see God. St. Bernard says we must know our own misery first, if we want to be able to perceive the mercy of God. “But if I look up and fix my eyes on the aid of the divine mercy, this happy vision of God soon tempers the bitter vision of myself,” he said. “This vision of God is not a little thing. It reveals him to us as listening compassionately to our prayers, as truly kind and merciful … In this way your self-knowledge will be a step to the knowledge of God; he will become visible to you according as his image is being renewed within you.”
It is good to pursue science and technology. Nonetheless, we must integrate them into something greater, something that is good for human beings and brings glory to God. Thus, St. Bernard wrote, “I wish therefore that before everything else a man should know himself, because not only usefulness but right order demands this.”
Moved by the rise of artificial intelligence, Pope Leo XIV wrote an encyclical, “Magnifica humanitas.” Like a modern-day St. Bernard, the pope is calling the world to relativize or integrate artificial intelligence (and of course all other technologies) into a society that will protect human dignity and foster our relationship with God. We should take his appeal seriously and reflect on how we use these technologies personally, as well as on how we promote them in society.
Father John Bayer, O. Cist., is a monk at Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey in Irving.
Cutline for featured image: A statue of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) is pictured in the Vatican Gardens Sept. 27. The statue portrays the great abbot and writer holding a book of advice addressed to his former pupil Pope Eugene III. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano)
