The Journey To Wisdom

 

Dear Friend:

I will begin by stating that I have nothing to teach you. I have no lesson to give. Or message to impart.

I have divorced myself from any hope that you will enjoy what I have to say.

I wish only to speak to you as a sincere human being. For as life goes on, it becomes increasingly clear to me that Sincerity is really all we have. For everything that we think we have, we lose one by one.

There was a time in which I thought that I knew.

I did not.

There was a time in which I thought I was wise.

I was ignorant.

For much of my life, I was mesmerized by achievement. But I found it to be hollow in the end.

For so many years I listened to what my mind told me. Until I began to learn that it was speaking only to itself.

We teach our children. But the truth is, we teach from a place of ego rather than wisdom.

We look at life through the lens of conquest. But the truth is, there has never really been anything to conquer.

We have become addicted to creating obstacles for ourselves so that we may have an excuse to conquer.

We have become addicted to telling ourselves false tales so that we may live a romanticized existence.

But if we are sincere, we learn that we don’t know what we think we know. And as we continue to collide with life, our armor of knowledge begins to crumble. And we are left with an ocean of ignorance.

We one day see that we must begin to learn. For the methodologies we have used, and the precepts that guided our lives simply did not work. And this is evidenced by our torn relationships and our years of turmoil.

The truth is that we begin to see only once we are willing to let go of ourselves. We begin to experience life only once we are willing to look beyond ourselves. And we begin to fill the hearts of others once we submit wholly to their desires, completely forgetting ours in the process for a period of time.

It is so seductive to believe that we are RIGHT, is it not? The ego is so convincing that we see a storm cloud, yet we notice only the speck of sunshine that attempts to peak through it.

We eventually come to a point in our life in which we sit deep in our chair and say, “I just don’t know, anymore. I have no answers. I don’t know what is the right thing to do. I now distrust my judgment so much that I’m afraid to even make a suggestion.”

And perhaps this is the ONLY place from which we can truly function.

Perhaps it is this Vulnerable Sincerity that is our greatest guide.

Why?

Because we begin to function from a place of Not Knowing. From a place of Exploration. From a place of Non-Ego.

Our words begin to carry the weight of Truth. And perhaps they penetrate the heart of those we speak to.

You see, it really isn’t about “reaching” anyone. It’s about using their company to help you find yourself. And this is perhaps the greatest way to affect the life of another.

Truth be told, I don’t believe any message. I do not comply with any instruction. I do not submit to any methodology. I do not surrender to any doctrine.

For such things are lifeless.

The only thing that I have to offer is my living, breathing self. And my meandering and awkward search for Truth at the expense of all else. And perhaps as you watch me search, you will realize that I have no answers to give.

Perhaps you will understand that my fingers do not point the way, but claw through the shifting sands. In search of something that I lost long ago. Somewhere between the wild and carefree days of my youth and the serious and “intelligent” days of my adulthood.

If my life is transforming it is perhaps because I know Less than I have ever before known.

If I look into the eyes of my children it is perhaps because I try to look into their heart rather than show them my brain.

If I feel the weight of the moment it is not because of silly prescriptions such as “mindfulness” but because I’ve realized that there really is nowhere else I would rather live.

The journey to wisdom is perhaps a journey toward systematically dismantling all of your so-called knowledge and reducing the whole of life into one single human interaction.

And in that interaction, ridding yourself of the YOU that you have come to know.

Perhaps this is the way to Freedom.

And perhaps this is where life has been trying to lead us all along.