(The Nationalist, 1 December 2006)
A story is told of an Indian prince who lived some 2,500 years ago. His name was Siddhartha Gautama. He left his family while still a young man and went away to reflect quietly by himself. This was a long and difficult process. But one of its side-effects was that it gave him the reputation of being a wise man.
On one occasion he visited a village and spoke to the people. They asked him lots of questions and he gave them his answers. Then he set out to go on to the next village. He was followed by a man who had been greatly impressed by his teaching. The man asked him, ‘Are you a magician, or are you a god?’ Siddhartha replied, ‘I am neither a magician nor a god; I am one who is awake.’
The story of this incident spread everywhere, and the wise man came to be known no longer as Siddhartha Gautama, but by a nick-name: “the One who is Awake”, or “the Enlightened One”. In his own language, Sanskrit, the name is translated as a title, “the Buddha”.
The Christian saint, Bonaventure, also spoke of being awake and aware. He referred to what he called:
– the eyes of the body, that is, our two eyes, which give us information;
– the eyes of the mind, our mental awareness, which gives us knowledge;
– the eyes of the soul, our spiritual insight, which gives us wisdom, enabling us to look below the surface of things, to be perceptive, to be aware of the inter-connectedness of reality, to be able to live happily with paradox and uncertainty.
Information, knowledge and wisdom are at different levels. At present we are flooded by information. I recently looked up John Paul II on the internet and found over fifty million websites. Newspapers publish multiple supplements weekly, though few of us have time to do more than glance at them. Information doesn’t make us wiser or even motivate us. I recall seeing a person dying of cancer; on their bedside table lay an ashtray and a packet of cigarettes bearing the health warning, “Smoking kills”. The inform-ation was there, but it hadn’t motivated the person.
We have lots of knowledge. Two out of three young Irish people go on to third level education, more than at any other time in our history. It’s something to be glad of and grateful for. Are those young people wiser than their less educated parents? What do you think?
Wisdom is at the highest level. It calls for a good measure of reflection, which in turn requires time, quiet, humility, and receptiveness. The frantic busyness of our world militates against those. Doesn’t our world need – and lack – wisdom? Sometimes the obvious is that which is most easily missed. We miss the essentials while chasing after non-essentials. Our vision is locked into the short-term. Jesus said, ‘Watch yourselves, or your hearts will be coarsened by the cares of life,’ and, ‘Stay awake, praying at all times.’ (Luke 21.34, 36) And a poet said, ‘What is this world if, full of care, we have no time to stop and stare?’ Reflection is a gentler teacher than experience.