The Lost Art of Wisdom

People don’t seem too concerned with the concept of wisdom these days. I can’t think of the last time I heard anyone talking about how important it is to have wisdom; can you?

But wisdom used to be a big deal. Many cultures across time gathered wisdom sayings into books so this important information could be passed on to future generations. That’s what the book of Proverbs is.

The Greeks valued wisdom so much that they deified it as the goddess Athena. And King Solomon, the wisest mortal ever, wrote, “Wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.”

I don’t know exactly why our culture doesn’t currently place a high emphasis on wisdom. I do know that we tend to associate it with a bald sage on a mountaintop, or at least very old people or, for some reason, owls. There’s a credit card ad campaign right now that features “Mr. Wiseman,” a guru-type fellow whom people encounter out in nature as he balances rocks or meditates.

But what is wisdom, really? I’ve been memorizing James 3:17 lately, a verse that has a lot to say on the matter:

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

I can’t go into the Greek meaning of every word in this dense and meaning-rich verse (that’s for the guest sermon I’m giving this week), but I’ll share what I learned about the word “wisdom.” It actually means “clarity.” So, this verse is about the clarity that comes from above.

Wow – who doesn’t want that kind of clarity? I will take some of that! Imagine what our world would be like if we could walk through it with the clarity that comes from heaven?

The word in Greek for wisdom is “sophia,” which is where we get the word “sophistication.” It used to mean “the art of using wisdom.” The fact that it has devolved into meaning having discriminating taste or walking with ease through the upper echelons of society says plenty about what our culture values.

One of the great redemptive gifts of Enneagram Type Fives is wisdom. Fives are able to focus on one thing, look at it deeply and take the needed time to understand it. The Wisdom of the Enneagram was co-written by a Five, in fact! It is clear from reading that gold-standard treatise that Russ Hudson (along with his co-author, Don Richard Riso) took the time to deeply examine this model of human behavior and share deep insights that benefit the world.

And here’s a wonderful little connection I see: James 3:17 is not about wisdom as a concept that stays locked in the mind. He turns wisdom into a series of actions; wisdom becomes a verb. Yes, the words are adjectives, but they are descriptive of actions that you can see. Wisdom is not just a thing you think; it is a thing that you do as a result of what you think. Jesus said it well: “Wisdom is proved right by her actions.”

This is the same journey that a Five takes in the growth process, moving from pure thought in the Head Center to Point Eight, action, in the Body Center. The important insights and clarity derived from focused thought find expression in the world.

Isn’t that cool? The journey of the Five is an example for all of us as we seek to be wise on this earth. And fortunately, wisdom is not the sole purview of the Five; we can all become wise. James has a great suggestion: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).

After all, God would love for us to be wise! He is generous, and he loves it when we ask for wisdom. Just as King Solomon.

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