Reading for Wisdom

Wheel of Dhamma - Buddha's Teaching of the Path to Enlightenment

Humanity is still young, especially when compared with the age of the earth. We’re new comers. At wisegeek.com we find that, “If you condense the history of the Earth – about 4.54 billion years – to just one year, humans have been here only about 23 minutes of that one year. In real time, humans have been on the Earth about 200,000 years.” So we’re essentially still just toddling around… at best.

It seems that since we are so new in our development as humans we might want to grab all the wisdom that’s available to us. Rather than try to reinvent the wisdom wheel over and over again maybe we could put into practice some of the sage advice handed down to us from the ancients. The oldest known human communications are cave paintings from 30,000 years ago and since that time we have made some pretty good progress in writing down big thoughts. We would benefit from dedicating at least part of our reading selections to books of wisdom.

So where do we find these books of wisdom and how do we decide which ones are really wise and which ones are hooey. Well, that’s tricky, but we can begin with asking which ancient writings have stood the test of time and which writings contain the principles that have a universal resonance, principles woven like a tapestry throughout diverse cultures.

When I read wisdom books outside of my own tradition like the Upanishads or Buddhist texts, I thrill to find a new language for the principles I value. It validates what is precious to me. I also find concepts that I haven’t considered before, expanding the storehouse of wisdom and affirming what true north is for me.

Wisdom books act as an anchor for stormy seasons and winds of change. They resonate with us like a message in a bottle coming to us from a time and place far away. Somehow they make their way to our own shoreline, a message from our elders that have the power to guide and ignite and instruct.

Sometimes ancient messages come to us on a different kind of scroll. Nature itself has much to say if we’ll learn to read its language, its gentleness, its power of renewal, its faithful and sometimes harsh truth of sowing and reaping. And images, they reach past our reasoning mind, a child’s laughter, a robin’s egg, a face lined with time, all speak to us and embed themselves down deep – if we choose to read them and store them.

When I was I new parent I honestly wished for a manual of some kind. I’m not talking cliché here, I’m talking real desperation. I feel the same about a manual to help bring the human race to maturity. Books of wisdom might go a long way in filling that need.

What Books of Wisdom do you want to add to your reading list?

Writing prompt for the week: Tradition