What you see when you look around is knowledge; what you see when you close your eyes is wisdom. Situational awareness, as we say, is important – not least for survival. But good judgment, rooted in understanding unseen things, makes us whole, or so we wish.
These days, digital widgets, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and layer-on-layer of machine learning, seem all the rage, things we must have, but they are not wise.
So, what is this wisdom, why does it matter, where do we go for it? Good questions. It is the “long and winding road,” product of pain sought, lessons learned. Maybe it is mistakes made, humility in hurt, endurance when we could collapse, resilience facing the unimagined, not knowing yet hoping based on something deeper, curiosity in exhaustion, resilience in defeat.
Where does wisdom come from, if not living? Clearly from those who have lived before, converted hay to gold, written things worth reading, Helen Keller, Elie Weisel, Mother Theresa, a hundred saints, those who cared enough to convey how you spin gold from hay.
Even in politics, we find the wisest go to the Bible. Why? No volume contains more suffering and learning, more living and teaching, more loss, and more redemption when needed.
Do not trust me, for mine is just one opinion, but look at those who went there for strength, hope, and answers, then ask yourself if they found them. In our nation, Washington, Adams, Madison, and Lincoln, were those who led the Revolutionary War, and Civil War, and prevailed in two World Wars.
Wrote Theodore Roosevelt, who ended a pre-world war, the Russo-Japanese, linked two oceans with the Panama Canal, beat oppressive monopolies, saved kids from child labor, sailed the Great White Fleet, discovered rivers, explored Africa and wrote more than 30 books. He said: “A thorough knowledge of the Bible .. is worth more than a college education.”
Wrote Ronald Reagan, who squared away a nation, then the world, stabilized our economy, restored pride in ideals, brought evil to its knees, and quickened our pace: “Within the covers of the Bible …are the answers for all the problems men face.”
So, in an era of impatience and unkindness, envy and pride, when dishonoring others is a national pastime, anger is hard to hide, hope sounds like weakness, and love gets laughed at; when we think we are permanent, what does the Bible have to say?
Too much lies between those covers, but a peek gives a glimpse at the difference, how most of us live versus how we could, a look under the proverbial hood. Corinthians is a good start.
Are we wise with our knowledge, or just quick with a retort; are we headed somewhere important, or drifting? What are we forgetting that we might find? How about stuff we forget?
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” How far away from that? For me, a long way.
Daily my eyes focus on news, alert to situational awareness, and try to make sense of senseless things, but that knowledge does little for wisdom. This is why, on occasion, I go to where TR and Reagan directed – and never am disappointed I did. “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you,” proclaims Proverbs. Some days, I close my eyes and wish for the depth I am missing.
Robert Charles is a former Assistant Secretary of State under Colin Powell, former Reagan and Bush 41 White House staffer, attorney, and naval intelligence officer (USNR). He wrote “Narcotics and Terrorism” (2003), “Eagles and Evergreens” (2018), and is National Spokesman for AMAC.
