Wisdom is not intellect, for great wisdom may come
from those who cannot claim any great intelligence. It is not reason,
for it need not follow any line of thought or logic. It is not
intuition, for we can often see its sense once it is revealed.
I cannot tell you what wisdom is, but I can tell
you that we are right to treasure it. We may not know it when we see
it, but we know it once we apprehend it – and so often we wish we
had grasped it sooner. It is precious, for it teaches us things that
we cannot truly learn any other way. It guides us in ways we cannot
replicate with logic and planning. It illuminates us and shows us the
way in a language that goes beyond the words that are used to convey
it.
Wisdom can show us when our efforts are futile,
and when they merely seem it. Wisdom can show us when love has driven
us too far and threatens to do harm. It can show us which of the
demands of justice are most pressing, and which are best set aside.
Wisdom is one of the paths of the Divine, the
channels it uses to reach us. It is an essence of the Divine, but it
is not the only such essence. We must learn to be open to it, whether
it is given to us directly or through another, but we must not hold
it above all else. There is more to divine insight than wisdom, but
without apprehending wisdom, there can be no divine insight.
Written July 2018
