Who is wisdom’s apprentice? What sort of person is on the path to wisdom?
- A person who is self-aware, and has a longing to understand her place and connection with God and the Cosmos.
- A person who longs for goodness, truth, and beauty.
- A person who seeks to walk in equanimity, gratitude, and awe.
- A person who seeks to live empathically and compassionately.
- A person who acknowledges their need for grace, and seeks to be full of grace: forgiveness, acceptance, and completeness.
- A person who seeks a vocation they enjoy by which they can bless themselves and others, and by which they can earn a living.
- A person who seeks to live simply and within their means; who is moderate in all things.
- A person who enjoys a civil discussion about ideas that matter; who can bless a person who disagrees with her.
Is the wise person an expert? I don’t believe the qualification of expert is either necessary or sufficient to be wise. Oftentimes experts are arrogant. Their skill can lead to hubris that leads them to believe they are beyond the need for grace, compassion, or empathy. But neither do I believe it keeps them from being wise, or seeking wisdom.
It takes discipline to stay on such a path. It takes community to stay on such a path. Since the dawn of civilization, persons have formed communities to help one another pursue these very ends in one form or another; whether as political communities, religious communities, or academic communities.
We need each other to grow. It is hard, if not impossible, to grow alone. Can we form such a community online? Could such an online community meet face to face?
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