This week, we will be focusing on wisdom as our theme. Since this is quite a broad topic, there will be a more focused approach to where our discussion will go.

Like for the past two weeks, I would like for you to bring in some example of what the word wisdom means to you. If you’d like, you can bring in some contemporary art / piece / other personal memento that reflects your own perception of wisdom.

Here is a poem by E.E. Cummings to help you get into the frame of mind that promotes a good inquiry discussion on Wisdom~

somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond

E. E. Cummings, 1894 – 1962

somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond
any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and
my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the colour of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

Keep these questions in mind as well while you are looking:

  1. What does wisdom mean to you? How is it similar to smartness? Different?
  2. Can wisdom really reflect a person’s character in this instant gratification style society?
  3. Who is a hero to you? What have they taught you?

Let’s have a good discussion this Friday.