On October 21, 1997, Apostle Henry B. Eyring addressed BYU students in a devotional talk entitled "A Child of God". I found many spiritually sound teachings and doctrines within President Eyring's talk. I would like to elaborate upon one of his opening points concerning how humility and the "pursuit of truth" are synonymous (and how pride is evidently a serious road block in life and, more specifically, education). He references 2 Nephi 9: 28, which reads, "O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish."
So often we confuse true intelligence with how familiar we are with temporal, earthly education. Society equates scholarly status with degrees and how scientific we are. While this education and expertise is necessary and useful, we must accept that it is only through God that we acquire and retain such information. Furthermore, knowing the omniscient nature of God's knowledge is also pivotal to our pursuit of truth. It is when we think we have all the answers that pride rears its ugly head on our path to success. We exist, learn, succeed, fail, and act according to the will of the Lord. He created all that pertains to this life, and our life to come (in our post mortal existence). If we do not humbly submit ourselves to the fact that it is by and through God that we will know all things (eventually), we will never obtain the knowledge we seek.
