Wisdom Is A Verb Through me, Kings rule. (Proverbs 8:15) Not money. Not power. Not family. King Solomon is talking about wisdom. In the very short term, money, guns, family and friends will get you ahead. But in the long haul of life, wisdom rules. You may have heard the saying, A wise man learns from his own mistakes. I must admit, I grew up believing in such things. You cant imagine the cosmic shock I received when I realized that, in Judaism, we call that the definition of a fool. In Ethics of the Fathers, Ben Zoma says, Who is a wise? Someone who learns from everyone.... (4:1) Everyone does not mean that everyone has something you can learn from; it means whats important is not who says something, but what he is saying. It means that living with a mistake is worse than realizing your mistake. In other words, when someone wants to tell you something, dont worry about who he is or the way he says it. If you get caught up in those things then you just dont get it. If you are going to get anywhere in life you need to know your mistakes, and in at least this one area, just about anyone can help you. Think about it. Dont you see the mistakes of the people around you? Now, if they could see their mistakes, see how counter-productive they are, in the same way you do, for sure they would stop. So whats the problem? They dont see the mistakes the way you see them. They see them the way they see them, and not only that, they dont want to listen to you telling them. Sounds pretty stupid doesnt it? Well, look in the mirror; thats us! Everyone around us sees our mistakes, too, and if we would listen, oh, how much better life would be. Simply put, listen to anyone who wants to teach you something. Looking stupid is so much better than being stupid. That is what Ben Zoma is trying to teach us. Its much better to know you built a boat that wont float before you set sail than after.
Posted on: Tue, 27 Jan 2015 15:00:00 +0000
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