The Lost Art of Wisdom-Part 1

The Lost Art of Wisdom

Part 1

By Paul Trimble 

Does anyone find themselves NOT wearied by life in 2020? Pushed to the brink or beyond? Is there an antidote to the chaos and overwhelm that seems to come in waves and from everywhere at once?

  Is there a better way of seeing ourselves and the world that can help us navigate the realities of the modern world and our environment? With something approaching peace, joy, wholeness, fulfillment?

  There is an ancient word for this question. It represents a mystery and a quest that people have pursued for generations. Perhaps we believe we have outgrown or progressed beyond the quest or the need, in our modern world—with our mastery of the natural world, of science, of technological miracles. What is this word, and quest, that we have lost affinity for and belief in?

  Wisdom—embodied and lived truth, beauty, and goodness—is something that we rarely speak of, or acknowledge, or if we do, we give lip service to the concept or speak so generally that we don’t say anything important at all.

And yet, it is perhaps wisdom, more than anything and everything else, that we most lack in our day and age, and it is wisdom that would most add depth, meaning, peace, and wholeness to our lives, even in the age of stay at home orders, social unrest and change, political turmoil, etc, etc. Wisdom is not intelligence, wisdom is not technological mastery, nor skill, nor ability. Wisdom is not synonymous with scientific advancement or understanding, or material or social success. It cannot be acquired with money, accolades, talent. It cannot be outsourced, off shored, compartmentalized to an hour of the day or hired out to a virtual assistant or guru on retainer.

For this reason, it’s easy to ignore, or devalue, or de-prioritize on the list of the important or urgent “to dos” that can drive our day to day existence. But the sobering reality is that it is wisdom that brings life, or rather, than wisdom makes a life worth living—infused with the right amount of depth, intensity, meaning, and balance. 

How can a person, in today’s world, with its infinite distractions, information, advertisements, possibilities, and pursuits, reasonably expect to pursue and find wisdom? Here is one simple practical piece of advice that may help, as a starting point:

PAY ATTENTION.

PAY ATTENTION to yourself, and what is going on inside of you. For most of us, our time and attention is divided up into infinite tiny fragments—work, school, kids, routines, habits, to do items, conversations, nagging thoughts, waves of emotions connected to memories and fears, questions about what we should be doing today or this moment, the relentless onslaught of noise, information, and misinformation coming at us through various media sources. We daily encounter more noise, information, and possibilities than any humans who have ever lived. Often, we seek to avoid the sheer overwhelm resulting from these inputs and choices by voluntarily engaging even more information and input from our infinite supply provided by social media and the internet, aka all accumulated human knowledge at our finger tips accessible in seconds. We scroll and surf, and scroll and surf some more. We intake more and more and more information and input.

Do these various fragments of our lives organize themselves into an integrated and cohesive and meaningful whole? HA! That’s a good one. Does our scrolling and surfing to avoid making meaningful choices and bringing balance and integration into our lives help us deeply connect with our inner selves and others around us? Does allowing ourselves to be overrun with possibilities and demands and pursuits lead us to the life that we envision ourselves living, that we will be thrilled to reminisce on when lying on our death beds, hopefully surrounded by loved ones? And yet it’s so easy to just continue in the same way, more a victim of our environment and age than choosing our path and determining who and how we will be. 

But ask yourself, if you PAY ATTENTION to how this makes you feel, do you feel integrated? Whole? Balanced? At peace? Full and fulfilled? Like you’re fulfilling your purpose? I’m guessing the answer is no, if you’re anything like me. And imagine how you would feel (or have felt) if you felt like your choices were largely your own, you were choosing your mindset, and your pursuits, what you do and do not allocate your attention and energy to, and that there was balance and integration among the various aspects of your life and relationships, and between your short term “to do” list items and your long term desires, goals, and values. You’ve probably experienced this, at least to some degree, at some point in your life.

  If you PAY ATTENTION, you can both consider how you feel inside your own skin, with your emotions and sensations, thoughts and feelings, and also “zoom out” to look at yourself the way an outside observer watching you would look at you, as well.

Try this sometime today, paying attention to what you’re experiencing internally, and also detaching enough to consider it lightly, being aware of your thoughts and feelings, without totally thinking, feeling and identifying with them, just as a casual observer with access to your thoughts and feelings might do. 

Are there any processes and pursuits that you instantly become aware are not leading you into a good, healthy, growing, and balanced place? Maybe it is scrolling mindlessly on social media. Maybe it’s consuming a political news show on TV or radio that inflames your emotions and sense of superiority but does not make you a better person. Maybe it’s making a dig at your spouse, roommate, or co-worker that feels good in the moment but leaves you both weaker and less connected. Whatever the process or choice is, perhaps you can stop them RIGHT NOW, in this moment, or resolve to make a different choice tomorrow, and pivot to thoughts, pursuits, and focuses that lead yourself into greener pastures, internally.

Perhaps this is part of the beginning of wisdom: to actually want wisdom, and value and prioritize it. And perhaps this is part of practicing wisdom: to PAY ATTENTION to what is going on inside of you during different moments and pursuits and commit to abandoning voluntary activities and thought processes that lead you into weakness and dis-integration and replacing them with processes and activities that lead yourself into a better place.