Wisdom will come into your heart

 

Wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

prudence will watch over you;

and understanding will guard you.

(Proverbs 2.10-11)

 

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Deep in the heart of the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, is what is known as the ‘Wisdom Literature’ of the Bible.

 

These books include Job, the Psalms – recited at morning and evening prayer every day - Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs and the Book of Proverbs.

 

A name very much associated with this Wisdom tradition is King Solomon, and indeed the Book of Proverbs is attributed to him, as is the Song of Songs, known also as the Song of Solomon.

 

These books place the concept of wisdom front and centre.

 

In contemporary culture it often feels as if wisdom is too ponderous and not ‘with it’ enough to get a hearing.

 

In an information-based world what is the place of wisdom?

 

In a world that quantifies, measures and is empirical what is the place of wisdom?

 

This is an ancient question and in a world where Artificial Intelligence appears increasingly to be the source of all information and knowledge, what is the place of wisdom?

 

It looks as though we live in a world where information is limitless, actual knowledge is thin and wisdom is absent.

 

Wisdom is to be sought not in the superficialities of the world but in its depth.

 

Wisdom enables us to use information and knowledge in a way that is measured and full of care, not fleeting and not cheapened.

 

All the information in the world can only get we human beings so far.

 

Knowledge, the means by which we know what to do with the information, will get us some of the way, but it is only wisdom that enables the art of human interaction and what really matters.

 

The task of philosophy – the love of wisdom, as it literally means – is a noble one that takes us on the journey to wisdom.

 

But much of philosophy has become introspective, inward looking, playing with linguistics more than the art of living the Good Life wisely.

 

Much philosophy has started consuming itself, much like the mythical Ouroboros, the serpent of ancient Egypt and Greece represented with its tail in its mouth, continually devouring itself.

 

What the Biblical witness present is the pursuit of wisdom that looks outwards, beyond itself.

 

It says that ‘human wisdom’ is an oxymoron, all wisdom is rooted in God and the human task is to discern it, uncover it, be attentive to it.

 

Wisdom is a treasure to be sought, not mined from within ourselves.

 

And the Biblical account of wisdom is practical.

 

Wisdom is about the art of living well, in relation to God and neighbour.

 

That’s why Proverbs speaks of wisdom leading to us understanding righteousness and justice and equity, every good path (Proverbs 2.9).

 

That wisdom AI cannot teach.

 

AI can inform you about, but not shape you in, the intimacy of human relationships - husband and wife, parent and child, friend to friend; AI cannot tell you why the sight of the stars at night gladdens your heart and prompts you to contemplate the mysteries of the universe and creation.

 

This is the wisdom we need, and it is a treasure to be sought from the ultimate source of wisdom, which is God.

 

Let us use the tools of information and knowledge of course: they open up our world and inform us: but let us never abandon the pursuit of God’s wisdom, which is deeper, high and broader than all our knowing.

 

Put another way, from our second reading, ‘the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever’ (1 John 2.17).