The Renaissance, 500 years ago, launched the idea that what mankind needs most is more information. The dream of sailing into the future on a sea of endless information has since become a global reality.

Particularly in nations of the industrialized Western world generations of leaders in business, education, science and culture have long assumed that universal progress would suddenly blossom if mankind could just acquire enough accurate information of all kinds in a democratic environment.

But so far the hoped for progress hasn't become that universal. The health, financial well-being and happiness of an enormous portion of humankind are sinking in the opposite direction.

Why?

Let's consider whether an abundance of information about just two of life's universally basic needs really equates with corresponding progress. The two needs I am referring to are food and love. The same could also be said about the need for money. But with the world currently floundering financially from bad investments in a virtual sea of financial misinformation, the parallel should be easily recognized.

Everybody needs love. So do we have an abundance of information about it? Certainly! Regarding the physical aspects of sex we have more information available than ever before—an enormous amount of it blatantly immoral, if not illegal. It streams in torrents into the minds of people from TV, the internet and video. It screams at us from the front pages of magazines.

Yet surveys, like one published earlier this month on the front page of the Vancouver Sun, indicate that the average super-sexually-informed 35 year old Canadians who were interviewed are really not happier than their less informed elders. Though typically having had more sexual partners (average of 17) than respondents over 55, they report their sexual lives and relationships as less satisfying than those much older in committed relationships.

When it comes to getting good information about how men and women need to understand gender differences—how they can work together to build marriages that last a lifetime and what they need for their relationships to work—is there enough information? There is indeed!

But all information is not equal! Some works. Some doesn't. Some is both good and bad. You can even receive good information and still get hurt if you don't know how to use it. Individual success can also be hindered by either an information overload or an information deficit, especially in our high tech world where information is mostly value neutral. Our greatest information deficit is what is often called common sense, especially spiritually-informed good judgment that is not value neutral. It is the capacity to think and act wisely and responsibly.

Consider, for example, the mass production of food products. Commercial food producers provide enormous misinformation through their marketing techniques and advertising. This misinformation undermines the health of consumers even in times of great prosperity.

A parallel problem is the public appetite for junk foods, fats, sugar and nutritionally valueless diets that contribute to cancer, heart disease and a cascade of irreversible neurological and hormonal disorders. Obesity in the United States affects one third of adults over 21 years old—nearly 65 percent of all adult Americans are overweight. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that American life expectancy will start dropping if trends are not reversed within a generation. American culture and dietary habits are spreading globally, carrying the same destructive patterns to other peoples' health and well being.

With our incredible abundance of information one would think human character would be getting better. It should be getting better if the sheer volume information is the key that determines admirable human character.

But it's not! So why isn't our abundance information enough?

Outstanding character is built on good information that relates directly to how to live responsibly, caringly and successfully. It involves learning to how to recognize bad information and reject it. Character growth comes from an informational diet of common sense and spiritual truths that produce the practical ability to respond to life's challenges and opportunities with understanding and wisdom.

The Holy Bible is the greatest source of the spiritual information needed for good character building. It is the bedrock of what is often called common sense. It was designed to open our minds to universal and timeless skills of living successfully, now and forever.

Always current, it is the best source of information on truly successful living. Its ten rules of good behavior are unsurpassed. Why not learn why it is the world's best and most complete book on character building?