The Sum of All Wisdom

Shakespeare did a fair job of summing up wisdom with lines from Hamlet.  Polonius admonishes Laertes, "This, above all, to thine own self be true, then it must follow as the night, the day, thou canst not then be false to any man."  The truth is that the actual sum of all wisdom is contained in the following concept:  Love yourself and all other creatures as you should love God.  Abide by that one rule and you will change the universe.

The Wisdom of the Owl

There are basically two kinds of people and they can be likened to birds.....owls and larks.  Owls are nocturnal.  They are useful and quietly dignified.  Their call is soft and soothing.   Larks are bright, cheery, early-risers with vibrant songs. They are annoying and useless.  People want to shoot them.  It's pretty much the same with their human counter-parts.  Which would you rather be?

The Wisdom of Socrates

Socrates said you should never own more than you can carry away on your back if the town is laid to seige.  He obviously never owned books.  Those of us who do would never....I mean NEVER.....leave them behind.

Do Not Go Gentle.......

It could result in your being carried out in a box.  This should be self-explanatory.

It's a Paradox

Never engage in any activity that could result in the creation of a paradox.  You might turn out to be your own grand-parent.

The Beauty of Humanity

We are told that God created man in His own image.  I will grant you that the basic structure is universal, but there are variances that distinguish every human being from every other human being.  Besides the obvious visible differences of  gender, pigmentation, skeletal structure, we are distinguished from each other  right down to and because of our DNA.  That makes us special in the same way that hand-crafted articles are more highly valued than those that are machine-made.  Differences in atmosphere, tension, pressure, vision, tools, etc., all contribute to the flaws in hand-made items.  It is those very flaws that make them unique and prized.  We are also unique in other ways that have nothing to do with our physicality.  We vary in intellect, personality, character, receptive and expressive responses, morality, tolerance ad infinitum.  There is incredible beauty and even wisdom in our imperfections.  Striving for perfection is admirable, but it should be noted that it is our imperfections and our striving to overcome them that help define us as human beings and God's absolutely favorite creation.  Let us not give up our humanity to be perfect.  I would rather be loved by God, than BE God.

Wisdom is a double-edged sword....

You remember the expression, "Don't bite off more than you can chew."?  The reason is that if you do, you run the risk of strangling to death.  However, the other side of that is.....if you consistently bite off more than you can chew, you could wind up strengthening the muscles of your jaws and thereby greatly enhancing your chewing ability.