Be wise!

Pursuing wisdom is as important as pursuing knowledge

Up until about the 13th century people in Europe would read for the purpose of self-transformation.  They would generally recite a text – speak it aloud – and usually in the presence of other people (who may not have been able to read themselves).  The same text could be read over and over, each reading stimulating further change.  This practice was formalised as ‘lectio divina’ with several steps leading to changes in behaviour.

From the 13th century onwards, reading became increasingly for the purpose of acquiring knowledge (of the propositional kind) and ‘lectio divina’ became a niche practice.

With the loss of meaning that we are seeing in the world (described as a meaning-crisis by many commentators), having practices that help us to get closer to reality become paramount.  A good description of wisdom is the ‘systematic seeing through illusion and into reality’.  The pursuit of wisdom is a worthy calling, more so than the pursuit of fame or power.

Practices such as ‘lectio divina’, mindfulness, flow, focused attention meditation, inquiry all contribute to building our capacity to see through illusion and avoid self-deception.

When we self-deceive, we pursue goals or ends that are not authentically meaningful.  These are goals and ends that have been introjected onto us and do not emerge from within us, from that place where we are grounded.

To bring ever more meaning back into our lives we must work towards it.

The practices are there, we just need to be systematic in adopting and using them.

You can download a pdf version of the Why We Teach here.  Click here to see a replay of last week’s webinar that explores the Step Back to Empower program.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

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