Momology Magazine Issue 2.3 Houston - Wisdom | Page 8

ALONG THE ROAD TO WISDOM BY JOHN LEWIS Y ou enter a tent by way of a beaded doorway as incense rises around you. Ancient artifacts, relics, and runes lay scattered about in no apparent order. As your eyes grow slowly accustomed to the low light and haze, you notice countless books laying all around. Many are left opened to specific pages waiting to be picked up and read again. In some, the print is fading. All are worn with time and use. A lifetime of study, meditation, and research is represented in the scene before you. You have entered the den of a sage. In all the movies and storybooks, wise men and women are eccentric, older than the foundations of the earth, and full of pithy tokens of wisdom they communicate slowly and sparingly. They read a lot, go on long mysterious journeys, and often smoke a pipe. When they do communicate wisdom, it is often in riddles or enigmatic expressions few understand. Wisdom is elusive, hard to grasp and usually involves some form of quest or journey to obtain. In the real world, in this very real life we are all living, what is wisdom and how do we get it? Most dictionaries define wisdom as knowledge gained through experience. 8