Article 1 - "THE RIGHT SIZE OF WISDOM" April 2007 edition of First Church of The Streets

    What is the lesson that one can take with wisdom? One idea might be that the wisest person is able to figure out a solution to every problem, rising beyond the everyday with a far-reaching perspective. Perhaps she could be a kind of chessmaster, able to anticipate the moves of others far in advance. Or, maybe the most vital aspect about wisdom is realizing that one isn't as wise as he thinks he is. Maybe the wisest person realizes that in the end, he is just a person like everyone else on this planet.

    This seems to be the perspective of the Preacher takes when he says that "wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city" (Eccl. 7:19, NKJV). For instead of describing this great balm as being something where a person becomes omnipresent and omniprescient, he completes his argument in the next verse by claiming, "For there is not a just man on earth who does good, and does not sin" (Eccl. 7:20). He seems to suggest that an important component in acquiring wisdom is for an individual to recognize that even after many lessons and much introspection, one is as likely to fall as he did when he undertook the journey of wisdom. A person of wisdom, then, is one who realizes that she still can falter, and that constant vigilance is required, no matter how much enlightenment she has attained. This person realizes that wisdom is not automatically conferred as a permanent status, and must constantly be worked at to be maintained. Wisdom, in a sense, requires one to develop consciousness.

    In recognizing one's vulnerabilities despite all the hard work, what will be the benefit of this lesson? For one thing, a person may not be so surprised at himself when all of the sudden he makes a mistake. If one realizes that he is just as much a fallible human being than on the day he started looking for wisdom, then if he makes a mistake, even a fairly big one, then he has a better chance of forgiving himself and getting back on track than if he thought that somehow he should never make a mistake again in his lifetime because of all the wisdom he acquired. Otherwise, he may decide all the effort wasn't worth it because he isn't perfect yet and scratch the whole wisdom idea entirely.

    Likewise, a person who assumes that because she has learned a bunch of lessons automatically should mean perfect behavior is not operating from a position of strength. Rather, she is in fact, in a very weak and precarious position. Her level of understanding is a ledger of rigid rules rather than a true lesson of wisdom that has permeated her being. This level of understanding is not unlike Jesus' explanation of the good seed falling on stony ground, where because there is no root in the soul of a person, whatever lesson conferred is lost once life gets too difficult (Mark 4: 16-17). By not letting the lesson of wisdom seep to the bottom of one's soul, it remains at the surface, remaining as codified memorizations that become too overwhelming to follow and act as a chastisement to show how deficient a person is. And if one believed that wisdom was supposed to eradicate a deficient nature, the fall may be hard to take indeed.

    Another problem that could arise when a person forgets that he is still human is that he is surprised by the mistakes of others. In other words, when one thinks that he should be perfect because of all the hard work he has put into improving himself, then he gets annoyed that others aren't putting the same work into getting better as he is. There is also the danger of thinking that just because she has begun a path to enlightenment, other people in her life need to reciprocate. This may be due to the flawed expectation that one "reaps what one sows" renders an exact equation, where because one acted nice, one will always encounter niceness wherever she goes because of all the happy energy that exuded from her like bright sunshine. In real life, things aren't always as neat as they are in fantasy life. One could be nice all day, and the boss could still be a jerk, the spouse still a cheat, and the kids still be rude. Thinking that one's wisdom will mean some magic formula to change others is a crack in the foundation, and the real problem is that the person doesn't even know that the crack is there. He has forgotten that the tendencies of ego and fear still remain in his soul, and thus, despite his words of wisdom, he still acts in fear, for he wonders why other people are still so messed up when he is so good. He has forgotten that he is just like them, and that wisdom would acknowledge that fact.

    The Preacher addresses this fatal tendency in the next part of his discourse: "Also, do not take to hear everything people say....for many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others" (Eccl. 7: 21-22). If one forgets his own tendency to get angry because he is supposedly beyond that, now that he is so enlightened, then the sins of others seem that much more magnified. This is just like the tendency for a person to see in others what he denies is in himself. So if one forgets that she is still a human being just like everyone else with the same thoughts, fears, and desires as everyone else, then the sins of others will loom even larger than if she noticed what was going on in herself and addressed it. Wisdom is not meant as some magic potion that makes everything bad go away. Rather, it is a method by which one can see a problem and address it, whether the problem has to do with something external, such as a business deal, or one's tendency to curse his neighbor when she doesn't do as he expects her to.

    Thus, if one wishes to acquire wisdom, the Preacher seems to suggest, one must remember that it will not dispel the tendency to ego and fear, at least not automatically. Spouting Scripture, the I Ching, the Four Noble Truths, or the Koran does not mean one has acquired wisdom. And having a great idea of what do's and don'ts one is supposed to be following is a great start, but nothing of what true wisdom is. Wisdom is simply being able to see things as they are, and being able to take all these aspects into consideration as one makes his way though life. It is seeing the world as it is , and a person for who she is. By having a right vision of the world, one has a better chance of making his way through it. By realizing one's fallacy, one has a better chance of seeing her place amongst the myriad of fellow human beings who populate the world around her, seeking her rightful humanity.