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Richard's Daily Meditations

CAC Owl (detail) by © Shirin McArthur.  

WISDOM

“All that is hidden, all that is plain, I have come to know, instructed by Wisdom who designed them all.”

~ Wisdom 7:21-22

The irony of ego “consciousness” is that it always excludes and eliminates the unconscious—so it is actually not conscious at all! It insists on knowing, of being certain, and it refuses all unknowing. So most people who think they are fully conscious (read: “smart”) have that big leaden manhole covering their unconscious. It gives them control but seldom compassion or wisdom. That is exactly why politicians, priests, CEOs of anything, and know-it-alls must continue to fail and fall (spiritually speaking) or they will never come to any real wisdom. The trouble is that we have to put up with them in the meantime and wait for another growth spurt. Sometimes that very power position makes failing and falling quite rare and even impossible for them.

From A Lever and a Place to Stand:
The Contemplative Stance, the Active Prayer
, p. x (foreword)

Starter Prayer:
Grant me wisdom.