we are incessantly flooded with information.
we have access to more knowledge now than ever before. much of this is exciting, helpful and important. there is, however, a difference between knowledge and wisdom.wisdom…a quality we recognise and is yet difficult to define. we find instead ways to describe. it is a deeper way of knowing, a more profound inner knowing. it is a way of knowing that which is unknown. there is a quality in wise people of deciphering what is just out of reach and is certainly not attainable by using information.
a wise person has the ability to be courageous with the unknown. she has a willingness to go where others refuse to go in order to discover what gifts lie there. he balances what his experiences have taught him with the excitement of exploration.
she also seems to hold, and normalise, both the pain and the joy of life, the inevitable dance of suffering and the relief of suffering. life seems to be united in the heart and mind of a wise person, linking disparate bits together into a more profound unity.
the wise elder holds a vision for our future, and finds ways to express that vision, be it by mentoring a younger person or by speaking out for her passions or by simply living her aligned values. it is the deep well of experience and compassion that allows the wise elder to create, to critique and to articulate that vision. he finds a way to make visible that which was invisible, to make the unmanifest somehow tangible.the wise have a fire burning in their hearts and so can warm all those with whom they are in connection. the joy we feel in their presence can inspire us to find our own wisdom, and to use the world’s knowledge and information to support and inform that wisdom.