Wisdom Wherever You Find It

MY NEW PROJECT – Wisdom Wherever You Find It

For quite a few years, I have carried around a small black notebook and used it to record wise things I have heard (or read). Mostly, they are words that take me by some small surprise – spontaneous observations, the introduction of an apt quotation in a conversation, or some words that may be practiced but resonate in an important way.

Over seven years, I have collected close to 150 such testimonies.  That’s either a lot or a little, given the number of conversations I have each day. They range from three words to almost 150, from a sentence to a paragraph, from a tickle to a dagger. But each contains some nugget of truth, most of them unconnected to my usual source of wisdom and inspiration: Jewish text.

So for a while – perhaps as long as three years, given the number I have collected so far – I will share one quotation each week with a reflection on why I wanted to write it down and not trust to memory.  Most of the speakers are identified by name, not by title.  If you like what someone says, look ‘em up and find out more.  More of the speakers are men than women. That part was a revelation to me as I prepared my list, so it’s obvious I need to start listening to a more diverse group of people.

And if you and I speak or correspond regularly, please don’t be insulted if you don’t turn up in these short essays.  As Bishop Larry Campbell said, “Some stories are so intimate that if you tell them, they lose their intimacy.”  Somewhere down the line I will reflect on that one.

My advice is to get your own little black book and a fine-tipped pen.  Then you can preserve wisdom wherever you find it.

Coming soon to an inbox near you.

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