31 Oct Is Intelligence Replacing Wisdom?
Why We Need Wisdom Now
Living near Silicon Valley is an interesting experience. People from around the world come to add their piece of brilliance to this Mecca of technology that influences our life. It’s a cool thing to be right at the hub of all that’s new and popping. But something is missing, for me.
As I move through life, I feel an active source of wisdom is missing. Where are our wise ones? We are inundated with intelligence and business savvy. Has savvy become sexier, more valued than wisdom? I’m asking—but in reality I fear it is so.
Wisdom calls
Wisdom is the intersecting space where experience meets compassion, which meets acceptance and enfolds a vision for a loving planet. Wisdom is thoughtful, caring and precise without meaning to be. It just is.
In 2005, I attended a global conference on peace and healing in Bali. I went for the sole purpose of meeting Desmond Tutu. I had this drive to be in the space of my elders. Mr. Tutu for me is a poetic soul who speaks truth with such love and reverence that listening to him is an alchemical experience.
I was on the hunt for the wisdom keepers. They seemed so few and far between. When I’m on the Indian Reservation, wisdom is visible in the white and black strands of my elders’ hair. The “gray hairs” call us to the circle to listen to their stories. Their stories feed and mature us. There is a price to sit among the wise ones. For a seat in the circle I have to put down my knowing, my smarts and my ego, or all is lost on me.
Dropping expectations
Mr. Tutu was a speaker at the conference. I had to go to Bali to be in this man’s presence, hoping that I could become wiser by proximity.
There is something about showing up and then dropping expectations. Yes, I met Mr. Tutu. I got the photo op; that was wonderful. Then life shifted gears as it does and took me down a road I had not seen.
see her shine?
Why I was there at this time
As the conference began, I sat close to the front to hear the wise ones. Mrs. Tutu sat only a few seats away from me. Excited to be in her presence yet too scared to talk to her, I turned to my seat mate and downloaded my desire. To my surprise, my colleague took me by the hand, pulled me from my chair, walked me to Mrs. Tutu and said, “This woman, Melanie, would like to hug you and say hello.” Mrs. Tutu smiled a grin so wide my entire body relaxed into her shine. She grabbed my hand and said, “I am Leah. Oh my daughter, sit with me. I love you, my daughter. Be with me for a while.” She held my hand for an hour. Feeling utterly swaddled in love, I think I cried for most of the hour.
I’m a crier
I cry at the presence of beauty, truth and love (my cocktail of wisdom). I cried because she called me her daughter and I felt her as my mother, as mother wisdom. I cried because she is a woman I hope to become; to integrate just a dose of her depth would be enough in this lifetime.
What I truly believe is that I cry when hunger is satiated, when love is given without asking and heals something inside I didn’t consciously know was hurt.
The power of wisdom
How do you cultivate wisdom?
I started Wisdom Salons because I missed thought-provoking conversations that mattered.
Pat puts her hands in it.
The SF Bay Area Salon kicked it off. An amazing group of souls gathered and became connected.
I believe in the power of wisdom to evolve us into a more human(e) experience.
I work on behalf of wisdom because I want to become an elder, not just older.
I hold hands with you because you are my family and we need each other to navigate this wild and creative human experience.
I started Wisdom Salons to bring people together to have these rich, evocative conversations that connect us to each other.
Will you answer the call?
I call to you to the Wisdom Salon, to the gathering of engagement, connection and evocative transformation.
I call you to rich conversations that matter and that mature us.
I call you to the circle so we don’t lose touch with each other in the busy business savvy world.
So I’m here. I’m with you. Let’s gather.
Love, love, love,
Melanie,
No Comments