Wednesday, October 1

The getting of wisdom


Wisdom for it lies innate
In humility, a saving grace 
Wisdom In love; in delight,
With a Sprits power   
Unrequited love
now renewed   
In peace   
Now  
Instead of attempting an essay on wisdom I composed the above short poem. Today we have an ever increasing number of smart people, but we are not seeing a commensurate number who are wise. Philosophy, which has at its heart a love of wisdom, can help us to  consider wisdom in the sense of living more fruitful and happy lives.
 

8 comments:

susan said...

A very nice poem, Lindsay.

Intelligence can be measured in tests, but there are none for measuring wisdom. It seems to me what's missing is something that can't be taught in our schools as they are - namely, an aptitude for reflection.

Lindsay Byrnes said...

Very true Susan!!
From my limited experience with schoolchildren and young adults both here and broad, given the opportunity, they reflect with great gusto on material you present, to draw pictures with their thoughtful essays to the extent I was truly astonished!!
Best wishes

Tom said...

To acquire wisdom we need to pause, meditate and reflect; we need to take time out from the hurly burly of everyday life. That takes effort of the kind that does not sit comfortably with people who feel that 'to do nothing' is unacceptable in a busy-busy world, whilst filling time with trivial pursuits is important.

Lindsay Byrnes said...

Well said Tom. Let us not hide behind the veil of this too busy thing!! I took delight when I was working, perhaps in egoistic fervour, to those who queried my contemplative inactivity, “indeed I seek a new path now, away from what in untimely haste created such an almighty mess.”
The “idols” of the business world as in the “power point presentation” whose dot points enslaves its authors and audience to mediocrity, or boredom must be abandoned.
So I armed myself with prior contemplations, a blank white board to print out what was noted, a felt pen, and to have clearly etched just a few points I thought were relevant, in all of the many presentations I made – which served me well. As together they served to fuse a union of goodwill and even on odd occasions perhaps even wisdom in understanding one another, from which point much more was possible.
Best wishes

Halle said...

Too busy indeed, and so eager to latch onto and repeat the latest expert opinion, rather than thinking for themselves.
This is what our culture of media overload has done: replaced discussion and reflection with friends and family with watching television.

Lindsay Byrnes said...

Hi Halle
Indeed your sentiments was echoed by friend visiting , just a few hours later after reading your comment, lamenting the fact it was rather obvious from many of her recent conversations they were simply repeating what some expert had said, in the absence of any prior thinking about the matter for themselves.
In Australia today, we only have one newspaper left that actually employs specialist journalists to cover news and opinion within their area of expertise. Little wonder you have headline grabbing pieces with little substance or depth.
Best wishes

Rachael Byrnes said...

i like this new version of the poem :) yes I agree Today we have an ever increasing number of smart people, but we are not seeing a commensurate number who are wise.

Lindsay Byrnes said...

thanks Rachael /b/wishes