Margaret Silf - The Way of Wisdom

Copyright 2006 Margaret Silf
This edition 2006 Lion Hudson

The right of Margaret Silf to be identified as the author
of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording,
or any information storage and retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publisher.

Published by Lion Books
an imprint of
Lion Hudson plc
Wilkinson House, Jordan Hill Road,
Oxford OX2 8DR, England
www.lionhudson.com/lion

ISBN 978 0 7459 5210 9
e-ISBN 978 0 7459 5752 4

First edition 2006
First electronic edition 2012

Cover image: Lion Hudson

A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library

For Kirstin and Paul
On the threshold of all your tomorrows

Introduction

How do we make our way wisely in this increasingly complex world, where the paths we walk seem so often to tie us in knots, and lead us round in circles?

How do we discover that elusive pearl of wisdom, of which we speak in proverb and in prayer?

Is wisdom something that only a very favoured few can ever attain, or is it actually all around us, like ripe but invisible fruit, just waiting to be gathered, and shared?

When I was asked to compile this anthology of wisdom writings, my reaction was twofold. There was delight, at the prospect of exploring so many potentially rich sources of wisdom, but also dismay at the impossibility of ever drawing together a collection that even remotely represents the infinity of wisdom human and divine that lies all around us, among us, and within us.

The result is merely a taster of all that might be. But, more than that, it is an invitation to you to explore the ways of wisdom for yourself. It invites you to ponder the wisdom that runs like a golden thread through the story of our universe, through the created world around us, and through the intuitions of our early forebears and their still living traditions. It calls to you to gather wisdom from your own desert experiences, as well as from your happier memories. May it remind you that wisdom grows and flourishes both in times when the signposts are clear, and also when the clouds are down. In short, this book invites you to embrace and to celebrate the wisdom that your own life and your own heart are yielding.

Experience is the seed of wisdom, and we all have experience. None is excluded from the university of life, where heart-wisdom, not head-knowledge, is learned. But the seeds of wisdom that life sows in our hearts and memories need to be cared for, watered and nourished, and we do this when we take time to reflect on our experience. This book invites you to enter into this reflective process, and discover what those seeds are becoming for you.

And where does the way of wisdom lead? To the deep centre of who we are, perhaps. There to discover the ground of our being, whom many would call God, and to recognize the deep centre of each other, calling us into a mutual respect that alone will take us beyond the defensive and adversarial instincts that hold us captive in conflict and distrust.

The way of wisdom is for roaming and browsing. It can never be fenced in, nor will it ever be fully known, mapped and defined, and this is the joy of it. There is always more and more to discover and to share, because every new day opens up new pathways to explore. And this more is for sharing, and for living. When we live from the centre of wisdom in our hearts, we can no longer live only for ourselves, for wisdom is the golden thread that binds heart to heart, and reminds us moment by moment that in the heart of God we are all one, and each one is uniquely cherished.

I wish you continuing joy in the ongoing exploration of your own hearts wisdom and the recognition of the wisdom that dwells in the hearts of others. Thank you for allowing me to journey these sacred ways with you for a while. And a special thank you to Morag Reeve, of Lion Hudson, for inviting me to write this book, and for all her personal support, encouragement and guiding wisdom along the way; to Liz Evans and Catherine Giddings for editing the text with such care and sensitivity; to Rene Jepson for her kind permission to reproduce her owl of wisdom; and to all those wise ones men, women and children who have shared their wisdom with me through my life, often without ever knowing that they were doing so. I thank them all, in the words of Dag Hammarskjld:

For all that has been, thanks! For all that shall be, yes!

Original Wisdom

In the beginning This is how the story starts. Once upon a time This is how so many stories begin.

But the story we are about to explore is the story that contains, and inspires, all the other stories. It is the sacred story of who we are, what our existence means, and how it came to be. This is the story in which eternal mystery and personal history meet and embrace.

For those of us who inhabit the twenty-first century, the call to return to the beginning is an invitation into a very long journey indeed. By todays reckoning, our universe is up to fifteen billion years old, and when we get back to the beginning, we hit a brick wall at which the laws of physics break down, and the human intellect can go no further.

Once upon a time

Once upon a time carries us right back in time until we arrive at the point at which there is no before the point at which both time and space, or, as we know it now, space-time, has its genesis.

And what do we find there? Is it the vast void we may have imagined? Is it the Big Bang that set a universe in motion? And the most searching questions of all: is it personal? Is it wise? Is it love? Is it God? The author of Johns Gospel expresses this sense of a life-giving, loving, creative presence that has been in creation from the beginning, and continues to reveal itself in time and space.

In the beginning was the Word,
the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things came into being,

Not one thing came into being except through him.
What has come into being in him was life,

Life that was the light of men;

And light shines in darkness,

And darkness could not overpower it.

John 1:15

What Word is this, who reverberates through the aeons of the sacred story? For John, he is the Logos, the Word in whom the profoundest wisdom is vested, from which all creation will unfurl itself. Our own words are helpless to describe these mysteries, and yet in our own words and silences we strive for a glimpse of this deep, foundational wisdom, and when we encounter it, our hearts leap in recognition.

The human word is only one among billions of words that God has spoken and that therefore emanate from the divine splendour. To make contact with wisdom is to go beyond human words, which have, after all, existed for only about four million years and have appeared on paper for only a few thousand years and in print for only five hundred.

Matthew Fox

The biblical writers seem to be in agreement that wisdom is a creating force that has characterized and shaped the unfolding universe from its very beginnings, and continues to shape and form human minds and hearts through all the ages.

The writer of Proverbs, for example, imagines wisdom as the eternal playmate of the creator, alongside God from the very beginning, the first fruit of the mind of God: