I love this idea of wisdom as an orientation, a direction to move towards in a messy and uncertain and never complete path of living and thinking and doing. As someone who has a visceral need to engage in very long walks every few years, this idea of wisdom as a trail marker, a sign post in the forest, something to look up from the path and the meandering thoughts that move in rhythm with one’s steps, resonates very deeply with me. Blazes and cairns can be obvious but so often they demand consideration, questioning, is this pointing me in the direction I want to go, have I veered off course? Where am I going and how do I want to get there? They demand thoughtfulness and attention and yes, a breath, a pause, a bit of puzzling to reach a decision. It can be disorienting and exhausting when you’ve lugged your pack for 17 miles and fog and night are descending but it is this reminder to be intentional and creative in wayfinding even, especially, when the mind and the body want to reach for the obvious, the easy, the pre established, that is the true gift of walking. To more walks and more wisdom in all our lives.
I like the idea of walking to wisdom. I think there is a lot of truth. A favorite couple of lines of mine from Machado:
"se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,"
Walking is key and creates the path forward. I think I could make the case that action is necessary to activate wisdom. Wisdom is only created via doing. I do wonder about the imperatives of the path and the blazing and what it means to follow a well-trodden path vs. blazing one's own path. I sometimes feel that we seek too much to create our own paths rather than learning from the wisdom of older paths and ways. Thanks for your comment.
I am with Socrates on this one, which brings curiosity, and the desire to know things, in concert with openness. The sponginess of children seems an inherent wisdom. For me, about to turn an age where wisdom may be expected, I don’t feel like I have acquired it - but seeing it as an openness and curiosity, that resonates with who I am.
Thank you for writing this! There is much wisdom in it. And as I was reading it and thinking, I thought of this from Bobby Kennedy in his 1968 campaign:
"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
This quotation is great. It is interesting that often the metrics do not align with what is important and to measure what is important is very challenging. Thanks for the comment.
I love this idea of wisdom as an orientation, a direction to move towards in a messy and uncertain and never complete path of living and thinking and doing. As someone who has a visceral need to engage in very long walks every few years, this idea of wisdom as a trail marker, a sign post in the forest, something to look up from the path and the meandering thoughts that move in rhythm with one’s steps, resonates very deeply with me. Blazes and cairns can be obvious but so often they demand consideration, questioning, is this pointing me in the direction I want to go, have I veered off course? Where am I going and how do I want to get there? They demand thoughtfulness and attention and yes, a breath, a pause, a bit of puzzling to reach a decision. It can be disorienting and exhausting when you’ve lugged your pack for 17 miles and fog and night are descending but it is this reminder to be intentional and creative in wayfinding even, especially, when the mind and the body want to reach for the obvious, the easy, the pre established, that is the true gift of walking. To more walks and more wisdom in all our lives.
I like the idea of walking to wisdom. I think there is a lot of truth. A favorite couple of lines of mine from Machado:
"se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace el camino,"
Walking is key and creates the path forward. I think I could make the case that action is necessary to activate wisdom. Wisdom is only created via doing. I do wonder about the imperatives of the path and the blazing and what it means to follow a well-trodden path vs. blazing one's own path. I sometimes feel that we seek too much to create our own paths rather than learning from the wisdom of older paths and ways. Thanks for your comment.
I am with Socrates on this one, which brings curiosity, and the desire to know things, in concert with openness. The sponginess of children seems an inherent wisdom. For me, about to turn an age where wisdom may be expected, I don’t feel like I have acquired it - but seeing it as an openness and curiosity, that resonates with who I am.
Thank you for writing this! There is much wisdom in it. And as I was reading it and thinking, I thought of this from Bobby Kennedy in his 1968 campaign:
"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/the-kennedy-family/robert-f-kennedy/robert-f-kennedy-speeches/remarks-at-the-university-of-kansas-march-18-1968
This quotation is great. It is interesting that often the metrics do not align with what is important and to measure what is important is very challenging. Thanks for the comment.