Archbishop of Sydney

Wisdom

By + George Pell
ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY
24 November 2002

Wise people are usually older, have seen a lot and often suffered more than a bit. But a few youngsters can be wise beyond their years.

Wisdom is found equally in women and men, but wise people do not have to be clever. Indeed some of the silliest are very clever, needing all their high intelligence to convince themselves of conclusions that most others would have dismissed easily through their common sense.

a person must be basically good to be truly wise. Otherwise he could use his cunning for purposes that are low or bad; in fact to damage the interests of the person seeking advice.

The wise can understand what is truly happening beneath the surface and sometimes contrary to what public opinion believes is occurring. They can help us distinguish what is important in the long run from the baubles we are tempted to pursue. All that glitters is not gold, and too much gold is bad.

The wise are not greedy and do not encourage others to be mean. Indeed riches can be a barrier to achieving wisdom, skewing our understanding, giving us a wrong set of priorities. The slaves to money, power or ambition are often blind and hostile to more important values. The true significance of difficult situations can be found only in spirituality. Greed dries up the heart.

The wise recognise the reality and the importance of goodness, truth and beauty and therefore the centrality of love in any valid scheme of things. Goodness, truth and beauty are not human inventions, labels which we paste onto the happier moments of life to distract us from suffering. The wise also recognise the reality of evil, which always bubbles below the surface somewhere and can flare out viciously and destructively.

We are all at least a bit self-centred but those who are seriously selfish can no more be wise than they can be happy. The selfish are tempted to hatred and revenge, blind to the wages of sin in themselves and others, because hatred poisons the heart. Great haters are not happy people. The wise know the importance of forgiveness particularly when it only comes with difficulty.

The wise need to be courageous, sometimes even to recognise the truth; at other times to embark on difficult courses of action or to encourage others to face their responsibilities. But a wise person does not always tell us the whole truth, because sometimes we might not be able to cope.

The wise do not need to be highly educated just as many clever people are not well educated. Wisdom is found in every level of society, wherever there is imagination and insight. Do wise people have to be believers? To be wise you need to believe in goodness, and to be fully wise, in my book at least, you have to believe in God who is good. Despite evil and suffering, the universe is ruled ultimately by love. Only the godly wise know this.

a also suspect that those who continue to pray are more likely to hang onto a sense of humour as they grow old. Those who can't laugh at themselves are less likely to be wise!