Wise Words ...

A question posed to His Holiness, The Dalai Lama:

'What thing about humanity surprises you the most?' 




His answer was as follows:


"MAN, because he sacrifices his health in order to make money, then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health, and then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present, and as a result he doesn't live in the present or the future, and he lives as if he's never going to die and then he dies having never really lived."

Tomato

In a recent film entitled "Schooling The World", a comment is made about how our western educational model has moved from being one of Wisdom to one of Knowledge, to now, one of Information (or even data?).

Why a tomato?

Well, data might tell me the chemical composition of the tomato, information might tell me its weight and colour.

Knowledge might tell me that a tomato is a fruit, as it contains seeds.

Wisdom, however, tells me not to put it in a fruit salad!

As we are bombarded with more and more information, from screens, iPods and other 'multifunction devices', how do we ensure that we stay 'connected' when so many modalities being presented to us take us away from the very fundamental connection we need to ensure our survival?

Wisdom, in any form, is wisdom and it can come from an Elder, a child, a tree, an animal. Perhaps the trick is not to forget what wisdom 'feels' like, when it is received, so that we may remember it in times of need.

And to do that, surely we must expose ourselves to as much wisdom as we can seek, when we can, and become conscious that the 'information age' is subverting our ability to listen.