If I were to distill my mother’s philosophy of life, it would probably be, ‘Live, and love life to the fullest.’ It is more than apparent to me that this is how she has lived her life. Married at 18, mother of 11, widowed at 45. After raising her children she sold up and travelled the world. Now freshly returned from Canada where her grandson married, she takes Tai Chi classes, tends her vegetable garden, helps out at netball, spends time on the internet communicating with her diaspora of descendents. Now 78, she is the wise and most loved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Most of us have a healthy skepticism about those who would present themselves as possessors of wisdom. Indeed, the political and retail industries are adept at the selling of wisdom – beautifully packaged as policies, health, well-being, satisfaction. Then there are the gurus of every persuasion, there’s one for every cause – some well meaning, some necessary, some radical, some conservative, maybe religious, economic or environmental. They all have something to offer, a view into the world in which we live, an understanding of the way that things come together. We certainly take on the views that make sense to us, and we seek to be informed by those who share similar views. Each of us needs this kind of wisdom to get through life. Today we would call these ‘ethics’.
In the Book of Wisdom that comes to us from the 1st or 2nd century BC we catch a glimpse of how wisdom was understood by our ancestors in faith. Wisdom was sought after, highly valued, almost deified. Writes the author: I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her I held riches as nothing. In our Catholic tradition we have attributed this wisdom to the person of Mary. But we can already see that this wisdom is unlike the ethics of today. It is multi-dimensioned and many layered.
Within 150 years of the writing of the Book of Wisdom, Mark (10:17 – 30) tells us the story of the rich young man and his dilemma: he asks Jesus, ‘What must I do to inherit eternal life?’ to which Jesus replies that he must keep all the commandments. Mark writes: And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. We know what the young man’s response is.
The wisdom we possess must have a bottom line. If our ethics are fuzzy and full of exceptions to our general rule of life, what will get past the keeper? The bar that Jesus set is obviously very high. Is your bar suitably high? Is your wisdom strong enough and deep enough to enable you to live out the remainder of your life with fidelity to yourself and the Gospel? How would others summarise your philosophy? What wisdom will they see in you – from your actions and your words?
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