WISDOM

Barbara Brown Taylor in her book An Altar in the World says this about wisdom: “Wisdom is not gained by knowing what is right. Wisdom is gained by practicing what is right, and noticing what happens when that practice succeeds or fails.” She is absolutely right, of course. She is not saying something that we do not know or understand. She is simply noting a truth that we often overlook or take for granted.

As we grow up our parents and teachers try to teach us what is right. They gave us rules and commandments to follow. They told us stories about their own experiences when they had to learn the hard way, the mistakes they made that were painful enough to insure they did not make them again. We listened to what they taught, stored their examples in the back of our minds hoping that, should we ever find ourselves in a similar situation, we would not make the same mistake they did.

Then when we did find ourselves in such a situation, what did we do? Did the lesson that was taught prevent us from making the mistake the teacher recounted? Did the commandment that told us not to do something prevent us from not doing it? Did the rule that was taught guide us to do what was taught when the situation arose to actually follow that rule?

The answer: sometimes yes and sometimes no. As Taylor notes, it was only when we actually did or did not do what we were taught to do that we actually learned the lesson that was taught. It became part of who we are. Knowing what to do and not to do does not make us wise. Wisdom in and of itself is meaningless. Wisdom only becomes meaningful when we put it into practice, when we live it.

As Taylor further notes, we learn both when we follow what we have been taught and when we fail to do so. In fact, I would opine that we learn more from our failures to follow what we have been taught that when we actually do. We learn more from breaking a commandment than from keeping it. That is not to say that we should deliberately break any of the commandments, disobey the rules of the house, so that we can learn what happens when we do. Learning the hard way often teaches us more than simply accepting the truth and following it.

On the other hand, we learn just as much after doing what were told, practicing what we were taught. The point is that we need to be just as attentive in noticing what we have learned in doing what was right as we are certainly attentive in noticing what we have learned when doing what was wrong. Wisdom comes from being attentive to what we have learned in living out what we have been taught.

Wisdom is not so much about book-learning or lessons taught to us by others, Wisdom is about putting into practice what we have been taught and learning from such experiences. We have an obligation to teach what we have learned to those who come after us; yet, like us, they will have to become wise in the same way we have: by practicing or failing to practice what they have been taught.