OK I never really got into any of the religious groups for any branch of anything due largely to good old dogma. That is just death to a free thinker and one who likes to question and change opinion as new evidence pops up and calls for a shift in thought. But, once you find a place you like you tend to settle in and start marking your territory, in a manner of speaking. And thus after close to a year with this group. I have started to look towards making my place with int he group. I have no expectations of becoming one of the high scholars (They have my utmost respect!), but, one never know where they will land until they start to put some work in.
So in order to start putting my work in I'm going to start setting down what I need to on paper for the study part of things. I *love* a group that can challenge me! :)
So, one of my challenges is to write a short essay on each of the nine virtues for leading a good life and my take on them and how I see them functioning. I can do that. I just need to get back in practice. ;)
So here we go. I'm going to grab the first one off the list and flop down some ungraceful thoughts. Content comes first order comes later. I'm going to do the content or at least some of it now and then the ordering of things can be worked out later.
The topic for now though is Wisdom.
According to the Merriam - Webster dictionary ........
Main Entry: wis·dom Pronunciation: 'wiz-d&m Function: noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wIsdOm, from wIs wise1 a : accumulated philosophic or scientific learning : KNOWLEDGE b : ability to discern inner qualities and relationships : INSIGHT c : good sense : JUDGMENT d : generally accepted belief 2 : a wise attitude, belief, or course of action3 : the teachings of the ancient wise men synonym see SENSE
The way I see it there isn't enough wisdom in the world these days. I see it in some people and then I see all the really thoughtless actions of others who are more then willing to just accept the first thing they see or hear as the truth with out question. I have been accused of some really weird things like "blaming the victim" when upon having been told about some account in the news (that I hadn't heard of before) by a person I start thinking out loud and wondering about the missing information. Is it really so bad in this day and age to have questions about the information you don't have? Or is it really better to go with what you are given with out asking those questions? For me some of a person's wisdom comes from learning, be it from books and too much time in the library, having lots of schooling under their belt, and from watching the world around them. But that sort of wisdom doesn't do you any good if you don't have wisdom from real experiences. One can learn from books but you can not grow with out real challenges and doing the actions. One needs a healthy balance of these two, and to continue with them if they are going to keep growing. Having a healthy open mind doesn't hurt things either. You can not come up with new questions to find the answers to if you are not up to pushing the envelope of your own comfort. You can tell I am a mom when the best quote I can think of to go with wisdom is from the book/cartoon character Ms. Frizzle "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy!" Because how else can you learn and develop your own wisdom? It definitely doesn't get handed to you when you graduate from school.
Alrighty, other duties call. I'll come back to this later. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment