A Thought on Wisdom

February 9, 6.15 PM

It just occurred to me out of nowhere, and thought that I'd write it down before it vaporizes and vanishes.

We live in a world of moral degradation and corruptness. It seems that there is a new standard on what is called being good and wise. What's wise in today's standard can't really match up to one in the ancient times. If we read of what these great thinkers in antiquity had to say, we'd be in awe and ashamed at the same time. Why the latter, we might ask? Thousands of years have passed since their time, and arguably we should've developed our mind in a perpetual longer process that we should've been much superior in wisdom. It's true that we're much developed in a way, we have tons of amazing discoveries & inventions to prove it as such. But sadly that doesn't necessarily make us wiser. It's as if our achievements in scientific fields result in the regression of our spirituality growth.

Life is maybe much harder than it used to be. Those wise men way before our years led a life of contentment with so much little they had. Wealth nor materialistic pleasure hadn't become what mattered, instead they strove for ultimate happiness achieved solely by seeking true wisdom. On the other hand, our life has been made way easier thanks to the advanced technology, but we have to deal with more complicated challenges as well. It becomes increasingly difficult just to live happily, or should we put it, to live conveniently. The definiton of happiness has been superficially replaced with a life of full contentment with our achievements in life, such as career, money, social status, etc. In such a competitive time when not so many could have the privilege to have this kind of happiness, we fight fiercely and very often bring ourselves down to a much lesser degree of who we really are as a human being in the process of obtaining it.

Only a handful of us are aware of this sad reality. However, these people are faced with two choices, one being to follow the "wisdom of the crowd"; to live exactly the same kind of life along with the mass with all its superficiality, or to deviate from it and seek their own path, one that leads to the ultimate truth. But those who opt for the latter often find themselves tested by ordeals & turmoils, that it's no way it's ever easy. Instead a great amount of courage and endurance is necessary in order for them to stay true to who they are.

Wisdom is not bestowed upon us for nothing, instead we have to make sacrifices to earn it. Seeking wisdom should be seen as a narrow path promising little of a smooth ride as difficult times await. Understandably, many of us decide to avoid it at all costs, and choose to live in a momentary ignorant bliss. They neglect to realize that the suffering they' might come to experience would be equally rewarding for their spirituality growth. But again, what is the value of retrieving a pearl on the bottom of the ocean for pigs, when they're perfectly content just with wallowing in their mudhole?