We Are Sapiens

or Wisdom as a Valuable Virtue

We Are Sapiens But What Does That Mean? Is Wisdom A Virtue We Value?

"Our technological power has over run our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men." Martin Luther King jr Wisdom may come from experience, but it may also be perceived in sacrifice

Bill Moyers: Why myths? Why should we care about myths? What do they have to do with my life? Joseph Campbell: My first response would be, "Go on, live your life, it's a good life - you don't need mythology." I don't believe in being interested in a subject just because it's said to be important...But you may find that, with a proper introduction, mythology will catch you. And so, what can it do for you if it does catch you? One of our problems today is that we are not well acquainted with the literature of the spirit. We're interested  in the news of the day and the problems of the hour. It used to be that the university campus was a kind of hermetically sealed-off area where the news of the day did not impinge upon your attention to the inner life and to the magnificent human heritage we have in our tradition - Plato, Confucius, the Buddha, Goethe and others who speak of the eternal values... We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about. From the book The Power of Myth Chapter 1 - Myth And The Modern World

I think we risk becoming the best informed society that has ever died of ignorance. Reuben Blades Are We Arrogant to Call Ourselves Sapiens? Value is not based upon cost but that costs are paid because of value.

Kindness is the golden chain by which society is bound together Johann Wolfgang von Goethe We see technological knowledge as an asset but is wisdom still viewed as a virtue? And I wonder, if even considered a virtue... is it still valued?  If it is, how? Where is our focus? Does our day to day life conform with our own "big picture" or is there a dissonance, and even that we try to deny? We already seem to be so plugged-in that the flood of information has washed out any hope of actually thinking much about the information's value. When was the last time you caught your breathe, stopped soaking up stuff and really took the time to digest and think about what you just took in? Sure, in today's world we make many decisions and quickly too... How many are wise? You can't lead the people if you don't love the people. You can't save the people if you don't serve the people. Cornel West

Enjoy

© 2012 MU-Peter Shimon