King Solomon was said to be the wisest of all people in the world. The Scripture claims his wisdom was greater than anything else he had ever done. What is wisdom? Who has wisdom?
We live in a world that is expanding on one hand while it is also shrinking on the other. People all over are having much more open minds than they had some hundred years ago. At the same time, there are forces that are trying to limit the openness of the heart and mind because there is great fear of the unknown. Fear comes from lack of understanding but understanding is a building block of wisdom.
Albert Einstein said, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand. It is not that I’m so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer.”
He was so right because he was a man of wisdom. He focused on questions rather than answers. As I am getting older, I pray for understanding more and more. That is because I listen to people and try to make sense of where each person is coming from. I find myself limited by my own prejudices, fears, anxieties, foolishness, and lack of understanding. These days I pray for understanding more than anything. I pray often the prayer we recite every Sunday, “O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be understood than understand, to be loved, as to love: to be forgiven as to forgive….”
Plant the seed of goodness first whether it is understanding, forgiveness, generosity, kindness so that we can reap the fruits of understanding, forgiveness, generosity, and kindness. Let us remember that what is planted… sprouts.