[immoceefe]

I would tackle this question a bit differently, from the level of experience. Our knowledge of history is of course part of our experience, our theological knowledge is part of our experience, but I am thinking more in terms of the experience of harmony and union with God and with His creation. If that experience is real and substantial, then it colors our outlook and perception. And when we observe and experience our world, we will look for evidence and signs of that harmony at work, we will acquire a spirit of serenity and not be easily provoked by discord, whereas it will not appear as such to others. If, on the other hand, we suffer from a state of inner fragmentation, then when we look around us and perceive the world as it appears from such an inner state , we will only see disharmony and fragmentation and find no sense in it and it will be very alarming to us and a cause of great anxiety. And we will wish to come up with some scheme to overcome the disharmony, usually by trying to impose our will arbitrarily on others. The third possibility of course is that our supposed spiritual knowledge is only superficial at best and based on a too literal reading of things, and proudly boast that we are one of the elect.