Wisdom Toolboxes

At the NWA Friends of Jung we celebrated the end of our year of study of Wisdom Tools by bringing our own Wisdom Toolboxes/Bags to share. Some of them were virtual toolboxes, but above is a pic of some actual ones. The common denominator seemed to be books and words!

Wisdom in a Postapocalyptic Age

Virginia has sent a PDF of an article that should be of interest as we discuss wisdom this year. The article, “Wisdom in a Postapocalyptic Age” is written by Michael J. Chandler and Stephen Holliday and was published in the book Wisdom: Its Nature, Origins, and Development, edited by Robert Sternberg. Click the link below to download the PDF.

Wisdom_Chandler

I’d Pick More Daisies

 

Norris has shared a meaningful article, written by Don Herold and published in Reader’s Digest in 1953:

I’d Pick More Daisies

“Of course, you can’t unfry an egg, but there is no law against thinking about it.

If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes.  I would relax.  I would be sillier than I have been this trip.  I know of very few things that I would take seriously.  I would be less hygienic.  I would go more places.  I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.  I would eat more ice cream and less bran.

I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles.

You see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.  Oh, I have had my moments.  But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them – a lot more.  I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.  If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter.

It may be too late to unteach an old dog old tricks, but perhaps a word from the unwise may be of benefit to a coming generation.  I may help them to fall into some of the pitfalls I have avoided.

If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people who teach tension.  In a world of specialization we naturally have a superabundance of individuals who cry at us to be serious about their individual specialty.  They tell us we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced and ruined and flunked and failed.  After a dozen or so of these protagonists have worked on a young mind, they are apt to leave it in hard knots for life.  I wish they had sold me Latin and History as a lark.

I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun.  I had a few of them, fortunately, and I figure it was they who kept me from going entirely to the dogs.  From them I learned how to gather what few scraggly daisies I have gathered along life’s cindery pathway.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall.  I would play hooky more.  I would shoot more paper wads at my teachers.  I would have more dogs.  I would keep later hours.  I’d have more sweethearts.

I would fish more.  I would go to more circuses.  I would go to more dances.  I would ride on more merry-go-rounds.  I would be carefree as long as I could, or at least until I got some care – instead of having my cares in advance.

More errors are made solemnly than in fun.  The rubs of family life come in moments of intense seriousness rather than in moments of light-heartedness.  If nations – to magnify my point – declared international carnivals instead of international war, how much better that would be!

G. K. Chesterton once said, “A characteristic of the great saints is their power of levity.  Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.  One ‘settles down’ into a sort of selfish seriousness; but one has to rise to a gay self-forgetfulness.  A man falls into a ‘brown study’; he reaches up at a blue sky.”

In a world in which practically everybody else seems to be consecrated to the gravity of the situation, I would rise to glorify the levity of the situation.  For I agree with Will Durant that “gaiety is wiser than wisdom.”

I doubt, however, that I’ll do much damage with my creed.  The  opposition is too strong.  There are too many serious people trying to get everybody else to be too darned serious.”

wis·dom/ˈwizdəm/

Noun:	The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise. The soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of such experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
Synonyms:	sagacity – sapience – prudence – intelligence – learning

Know Thyself: The Wisdom Toolbox

Our topic at the NWA Friends of Jung for this coming year will be Know Thyself: The Wisdom Toolbox. We’ll be discussing various tools for inner work such as dreamwork, active imagination, free association, the enneagram, typology, meditation, creative expression, ritual, prayer, spiritual practice, mindfulness, retreat, soulcraft, journaling, and others. Please comment on this post with any thoughts or further ideas about this topic, for ongoing discussion between meetings.