Friday, June 23, 2006

What does traditional wisdom have to offer the modern world?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Not quite sure why everybody is shying away from this question - myself included.

But as a door opener ... traditional wisdom - under another name perennial philosophy - must be able to offer the modern world what it has always offered - a Way to understand true values, a means of sorting the chaff from the wheat, a link to the teachings of ancient sages and a means of return.

If you like, it's a railway ticket for a train stopping at recognisable stations, along a track laid down by our forbears, for a destination about which we have heard.

Unlike a train, we cannot expect to be carried along beyond the first couple of stations without doing some work.

The image of a journey occurs in all traditional wisdom and, for that matter, in myth and story.

And there is a lovely story - told in many cultures - of the man who, dissatisfied with his lot at home, went out to seek his fortune in the big city. He had many adventures and many hardships and eventually returned home broke and beaten. One day, while turning over his turnips, he came across a crock of gold - it had been there at the bottom of his garden all along.

I've strayed a bit from the modern world but, there you go, not all journeys run in straight lines.