The Most Precious Gift: Wisdom

Wisdom is probably the most valuable thing in the world. It is not like a mineral which you have to dig out of the earth. You can not save it in a bank, nor can you build a factory to manufacture it. There are, however various ingredients which you have to collect and which then have to be mixed and blended together for the final product; which is wisdom.

A warning, however is on the label. Wisdom is not something which improves with keeping. It has to be used, either in doing something which may be called a wise action or in giving it away as advice or wise counsel. Just as the apothecary had to get the ingredients for his medicines fresh, especially the herbs, so the wise man will be constantly gathering and constantly using the raw materials of his wisdom in discussion, in argument, in warnings, in teaching and in counsel.

It will also help if he has a sense of humour, Socrates had one and he was a wise man. The Lord Jesus had one and He was and is supremely wise. The essence of a healthy sense of humour is to be able to laugh at oneself. All of us are guilty of pomposity and that is the besetting sin of him who aspires to wisdom. Most of us feel humiliated by being made fun of and both the above mentioned had plenty of folk to ridicule them. The Lord Jesus constantly had His humble origins thrown in His face and Socrates was unmercifully parodied in The Clouds, a comic play by Aristophanes who had Socrates up in a sort of balloon investigating how gnats fart.

It is the most valuable thing and I am sure that all people of good will agree with this. However that sort of thing can become a circular argument. It is much harder when people value money, power, fun, fame, and such to prove that wisdom is best. This is especially so since wise people, as the two supreme examples I have mentioned above, were poor, they had plenty of enemies, and they ended their lives with the shame of a trial and execution. How can we justify valuing wisdom as the best thing of all?

The billionaire who has sailed rather close to the moral breeze in order to amass wealth will be admired by the many. Even if there is a tinge of jealousy in that admiration, it is envy at the state of being “filthy rich”. Paul Simon sings of all the things Richard Cory, who owns the factory has and does. Richard Cory then goes home and “puts a bullet through his head”. The refrain still goes on, “I wish I was Richard Cory”. So it is with all these things. We see our failure in climbing the corporate pyramid or as an entrepreneur to be due to bad luck or being cheated by others. In fact most of us are not unscrupulously ruthless enough to climb these murky heights and if we were we would not find happiness. Pleasure maybe but not happiness.