Diving into the great sea of knowledge, I am drowning. Wave after wave of fact and fiction, feeling and experience crash over my head as I fight just to take a breath. Pummeling pressure keeps my eyes just below the surface, so that I can’t quite see clearly. Swell after swell, small and distant, grows deeper and more powerful the closer it gets to me. Endless fathoms of knowledge washing in and out, burying me deep below understanding.

Every once in a while there is a pause in the set. For a moment I can inhale the sweet fresh air that I forgot hovered above. The calm of the sea of glass almost makes me forget the deadly water that moments ago choked out my life. Refreshed, invigorated, smiling, I imagine the struggle is over. The battle for knowledge is overcome. I have attained peace and comfort in the great sea of knowledge.

But this never lasts for long. Another wave of unknowables, good and evil, internal and externals, line up on the horizon. Just when I thought I was safe from the riptide of knowledge, it pulls me back under.

I don’t want to admit it, but there is a point where I must give up. As much as I am a fighter, the current is too strong. Exhaustion sets in. My fingers tingle and my calves ache. I am too tired to breathe. A little more water breaks into my mouth, past me tongue, down my throat. The cold overwhelming knowledge settles deep into my lungs like cement. Choking and stabbing knowledge bloats my body and mind. Until all is dark.
Somewhere at the bottom of the ocean of knowledge, a voice takes my hands. She wraps her fingers around my limp wrists and pulls me to the surface. This lovely voice sings life into my lungs and speaks light into my eyes. Through the churning water of knowledge, she lifts me out of the waves, far above their foaming wrath.

The voice called wisdom places me in her lap. She dries my tears and calms my gasps. Even though the mountains to my right and left are still crumbling into the sea, she whispers her sweet promises over and over. Her steady ark emboldens my steps, and I can finally breathe the fresh calm air that hovers above the sea of knowledge. The rage below comes and goes, just as before, but wisdom now carries me high above its destruction.