Growing wisdom is like growing a baby
A wisdom journey is a bit like pregnancy. If we pretend for the sake of the analogy that pregnancy is a non-gender specific phenomenon. You were born to it. The vast majority of us have got all the bits to facilitate the seeding of a human life. Miraculous. Mundane. It takes one simple, mostly pleasurable act. That’s it. Then the body’s wisdom takes over. A wisdom journey is available to us all. It is at once magnificent and mundane. The timing might not be quite right, you might have to have a few goes. You can be an enthusiastic participant nonetheless, and hopefully the trying is fun and bears fruit eventually.
Once it has been seeded, wisdom grows quietly inside us without too much indication of the miraculous potential unfolding within. We can cover it up with layers of clothes as it grows, if it is too secret, too precious, too new to share with others just yet. Or we may want to shout it from rooftops and wonder why we didn’t get onto it sooner. Or we may want to turn back the clock and stop it. There is no going backwards really, once nature takes hold. You can’t un-see insights or undo wisdom once you have seen its glimmer. But you can abort it if you are not quite ready and they were sneaky insights that got past your emotional wall in a moment of passion and openness. Or they may have been planted aggressively by a messenger who did not respect your whole self or your willingness as an equal, welcoming party (some people’s experience of the church). Wisdom waits its turn. It waits until it is invited. And unlike pregnancy, it is never too late.
If you really wanted this wisdom, worked hard to get it, opened yourself up and pleaded to be seeded, you may get a bit impatient as it takes its time to grow. But one day, if you continue to notice and presence it, wisdom will flutter and you will know, beyond doubt, that it is there, growing inside you. That it is strong and vibrant and growing. You may feel the need to surround yourself with books on pregnancy and birthing (on wisdom, spirituality, self-improvement, self-help) at this point, and you may call in the experts to do an ultrasound to reassure you that it really is there and that all will be OK. You don’t need these experts, your body knows what it is doing and it will keep doing it no matter how fancy your pregnancy clothes, diet or yoga moves. No matter how many partners you enlist in your pilgrimage, you would have got there on your own, and you may have even grown your wisdom a bit faster. It may be all you can think about, all you want to connect with. It may seem totally bizarre to you that life goes on around you as normal. You want to stop the clocks or speed up the clocks and shout: Seriously guys, there’s this miracle happening inside me and I can’t quite believe it! I’m not sure if I’m ready for it but far out, I can’t believe so many other people have done this! I think I might be the only one who feels this way about it. Where is my tribe? Where I my fellow pilgrims?
As your wisdom grows, it becomes more and more visible to the world. There’s no hiding it anymore. You wear it proudly in front of you, smug with the glory of this thing you have been so clever to be growing. You catch the eye of others in the know, with a smile and a slight nod, as if you are some special kind of vessel and gazillions of others haven’t gone before you. You may forget that anyone who isn’t at the same stage as you and your wisdom has anything to offer. Or, if your wisdom is strong, you might look to the elders for guidance. This thing growing inside of you will be stretching you beyond what you thought could ever be possible. You will be glowing.
The wisdom can’t grow inside you forever without being shared with the world. It would get too big and run out of space. It will soon be born and will become another seed of light. It will gaze upon, then crawl around and then eventually run out into the world, showing itself in all your projects, relationships and work. It will reflect itself back to you and will give you a deep sense of meaning and purpose. Your wisdom will be taking tentative steps at first, practicing, watching and learning from its impact on the world. It will fall over a lot. But it will be persistent, compelled towards growth and learning and connection with others - as is the natural order of things. It will upend your world, stay close to you for a good long while, looking back to you for guidance. You will also be taking tentative steps on the unfamiliar ground of parenting, feeding and guiding your wisdom - feeling the gravitational weight of responsibility you suddenly carry, and new sensations, needs and emotions. You will learn to trust it and yourself as it grows into itself and you grow into a new version of yourself. And one day, you will find that you have given it wings. Your wisdom does not belong to you, it belongs to the world. But it will never lose its connection with you.