A Reflective Glitch in Time

Time is a strange thing, isn't it? As time passes, we grow older, but do we grow wiser? Hmmm...I wonder. More tired, perhaps, so that we choose not to bother with things of less consequence in order to economize energy output. I don't know...is that wisdom?

In college, I was spoon-fed the definition: "Wisdom is knowledge rightly applied." It was college, it must have been true. But now it's not college. The older you get the more you question. You realize, "Hey, some dude my age just made that up. What do I really think about that? I can make up stuff, too."

Hmmm....so what do I really think about the afore-mentioned pearl of wisdom, so graciously spewn from my professor's lips? Knowledge, rightly applied? Did he mean correctly, applied? If so, isn't that a bit arbitrary?

Fine. Guy with gun has the knowledge to correctly load and shoot his brother's brains out. Knowlege correctly applied. Is this wisdom? At first glance we want to say...no. After more consideration--WHO knows? Maybe. It is impossible for any of us to say, by the professor's definition. Rightly applied? Who knows that? God? Fine. But can we know His thoughts? He says His thought are not our thoughts and His ways not ours. We have no idea what is really going on in anyone else's head. Case in point. Maybe the guy's brother was about to shoot him first for whatever reason....to run off with his wife, steal his prize Hawaiin coconut, or maybe he was just insane or on drugs. It could have been self defense. If so, his actions would be wise. Or "guy with gun" could have been psycho himself and "wise enough" to know the best defense was a good offense. That's wise..right? Not to us, but according to him it would seem to be.

My camouflaged point is........who knows? We can't always know what is right for everyone else, or even ourselves for that matter. We follow guidelines and may feel good about this or that, but feelings lie sometimes. Consequently, by the professor's definition, how "wise" can we ever really be? We often think we are "rightly" applying our knowledge, only to discover later we were fools, and fools again.

I think it is divine intervention that yanks us from delusion with rare, clairvoyant moments of reflection. Almost out-of-body experiences. We see our life as some kind of bizarre, blurred dream....rewinding and fast-forwarding spans of years in a heartbeat. Did I really live the last forty years in fast-forward? Did I live them at all? And will I do another forty the same? I don't feel I learned what I should have. I think I got "dumber". But is the very "dumbing" the whole point? Perhaps. We all know that God wants us humble and submissive so he can do something with us.

So....a more accurate definition of wisdom might be, "Wisdom is the knowledge that you are dumb, with just enough smarts to just do what God says; get it or not."

I've almost got the "dumb part" down. Now if I can just have the smarts to do what He says for the next 40 years. It's not fair. He knows if I do or not; he's seen the movie already. Guess I'll know in a second, anyway...I sense the fast-forward button about to be pushed again. Sigh....on with the show...