Frankenstein Wisdom Vs Knowledge

Many believe that the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom will lead to a successful life. Knowledge is power, but what most people do not realize is that increased knowledge comes with increased sorrow. There are many works that support this notion within the Bible, such as the stories of King Solomon and Adam and Eve. The theme of dangerous knowledge can also be found in the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. This can also be supported by real life accounts of hyperthymesia, a condition where___, The story of Alexandra Wolff, a woman with hypothymia, which provides insight into the effects of superior intellect on an individual in today’s society.

In order to understand the notion that increased knowledge or wisdom comes with increased

sorrow you must first define the words knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge, according to Merriam Webster, is “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” Wisdom is the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.” Many people mistake knowledge and wisdom because they are so closely related. The relationship between knowledge and wisdom is what makes them important. The relationship between wisdom and knowledge can be described as:
Knowledge is the accumulation of facts and information.

Wisdom is the synthesis of knowledge and experiences into insights that deepen one’s understanding of relationships and the meaning of life. In other words, knowledge is a tool, and wisdom is the craft in which the tool is used. (Knowledge vs. Wisdom)

One work that ______is the story of King Solomon in the Bible. Throughout the books of Ecclesiastes and Proverbs, Solomon describes his unfulfilled and unhappy life, and how he tried to achieve happiness through his wisdom and knowledge. In Ecclesiastes 1:12-14, Solomon

says:
I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13 I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under the heavens.What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind! 14 I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
Solomon is saying that he has used his wisdom to explore everything that mankind has accomplished on Earth. The conclusion that he came to was that everything a man strived to do in life was worthless and meaningless, which caused him to grieve. Solomon realized how many men worked their entire lives to achieve success, but ended up being failures. Even the people that achieved great success end up becoming lonely because their personal lives are failures. Solomon goes on to say:
16 I said to myself, “Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem before me; I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.” 17 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.
18 For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;
the more knowledge, the more grief.

(Ecclesiastes 1:16-18)

What Solomon is saying here is that having the gift of wisdom is useless because he will end up the same as a fool or a madman, forgotten. He explains this in Ecclesiastes 2:16, “ For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!” It causes great sorrow in Solomon’s heart to realize that his wisdom is vanity. Rather than finding happiness and success through his wisdom, his increased knowledge about the world has caused him to grieve over his emptiness and worthlessness.

Many people believe that wisdom actually promotes happiness, not sorrow, because of what Solomon said in Proverbs 3:13, “ Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” Many people find it odd that Solomon would counter his own statement “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge the more grief,” but what they do not understand is that Solomon is talking about two different kinds of wisdom. In Ecclesiastes 1 and 2, Solomon is talking about wisdom “under the heavens,” which means apart from God. He concludes that wisdom is “grasping for the wind.” The wisdom that Solomon refers to in Proverbs 3 is true wisdom, or the fear of God. The fear of God actually means to obey God. Eventually, Solomon concludes that true happiness is living a life of righteousness in obedience to God. True wisdom will lead to

eternal life in Heaven.
Another work from the bible that supports the notion that increased knowledge causes increased sorrow is the story of Adam and Eve. God created light, night, day, the seas, and the stars in 5 days. On the sixth day, he created man. God made a single human that was named Adam. God let Adam have control over all his creation, and Adam was to tend to the Garden of Eden. The only restriction that God gave Adam was:
"Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Right now, Adam lives a completely happy and innocent life and has not even learned what evil is. If he eats from the tree, he will learn what participating in evil is. Evil leads to separation from God, and separation from God leads to death. Later, God creates the first woman out of Adam's ribs. Her name was Eve. Adam and Eve have dominion over all of creation and they only have to abide by a single command. However, God allows Satan to live in the garden because he wants to see if Adam and Eve can resist his temptations of knowledge. The serpent tries to tempt Eve into eating from the tree by telling her that it will give her knowledge as powerful of God, and she can learn about good and evil. Eve was seduced by Satan into eating from the tree, and she later convinces Adam to do the same. Eating from the tree was the first sin of God, which causes them to lose their innocence and purity. Because Adam and Eve ate from the tree of good and evil, it released a curse on the world. Every human born from then on would have the knowledge of evil, pain, suffering, death, sicknesses, diseases, and accidents. Without this knowledge, humans would live pure, sinless lives. Instead, the knowledge of pain, suffering, sickness, and disease, causes great sorrow. Wisdom of evil and death causes humans to grieve for their loved ones.

From the creation of Earth to modern society, knowledge and wisdom have been highly sought after. Most people seek knowledge to achieve happiness or become successful in life. However, certain knowledge or too much knowledge can cause increased sorrow rather than happiness. Works such as Frankenstein and the story of Adam and Eve show how obtaining new knowledge can lead to destruction, grief, and evil. The story of King Solomon teaches us that great wisdom is worthless, and the only way to achieve happiness is by obeying God. The story of Alexandra Wolff shows how extreme intellect is a blessing and a curse. Hyperthymesia causes one to live a life of constant regret and grief.
Many people think that infinite knowledge would be____. However, people that are diagnosed with hyperthymesia explain that perfect memory is not only a blessing, but a curse. Hyperthymesia is an extremly rare neurological condition in which a person is able to remember every specific detail that has happened in their lives.