Final Findings

In the revisions of a certain encyclopedia the statement was made that scientific and other subjects must frequently be reviewed and modified to keep abreast of the newest and latest knowledge⎯which again brings before us the fact that the field of man’s knowledge is ever being broadened, and that the minds of men must ever be open for further facts and findings, and even for abandoning, if necessary, some of the theories and suppositions that have heretofore sometimes been accepted. Theories are useful as scaffolds in the building process; they are means to an end. But scaffolds must not be mistaken for the structure itself. New discovery is constantly replacing cepts which were formerly thought to be fundamental and final. Almost any textbook from a decade or a generation ago is in part at least out-dated. Ever-improved instruments that man has made are constantly probing farther and farther into the infinity of the universe, and the minds of men are ever moving more deeply into the areas that are all around us. And the more we learn the more we come to learn how indefinitely much we have yet to learn, and what we were once readily assured was the final word in many fields we are now frequently assured was not the final word at all, but merely the best assumption that someone could make from the evidence then available. Often there is contradiction and variance even among the experts and among authorities in many fields, and there are many inconclusive controversies, and mush as we know, we know that we know very little compared with the great unknown. Under such circumstances, the only course is to keep an open mind for truth, whenever and wherever it is found and wherever it leads⎯for truth is an harmonious whole even though man sometimes sees it in various confusing fields and fragments. But if we reserve judgment where the field seems to be confused, if we refrain from dogmatic declarations until such times as we have more light, many needless time-consuming controversies will resolve themselves. And in the meantime, we won’t stand in danger of having to reverse ourselves by reason of having dogmatically declared some supposition that was far from final.