collateral knowledge

COLLATERAL KNOWLEDGE Collateral knowledge or collateral information is that which connects any specific subject matter to the much broader field from which it sprang and which gives that bit life. The connective tissue of common law is the humanities; but lawyers do not study the humanities, just law. Astronomy is the connective tissue of religion, its producer; but, neither preachers nor theologians study astronomy, just religion. Medicine is a byproduct of nature, but physicians and researchers do not study broader nature, from whose loins it sprang. Instead, they study their discrete part of nature. And so it goes. Learning when severed from its life-giving ligaments is "dead;" sliced from its siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, and grand parents by modern, narrowly conceived applications, it suffers! Collateral knowledge yields a greater appreciation of the living whole; of its essential wonder and of its oneness. Seek to consume collateral knowledge, whenever possible. It helps to make out one's meal. "Fries with that?" asks the young uniformed server. "Yeah, why not," we typically respond, though quite collateral to our principal order. And so is it with other knowledge: their 'fries' and other accoutrements. "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." said Jesus Christ, the Savior. Hence, collateral knowledge is meant by His reference to "every word ... of God." Amen!