Wisdom

A History

Trevor Curnow

• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781780234519
• eBook ISBN: 9781780234854
• Topic: Storia
• Subtopic: Storia mondiale

"There's no fool like an old fool, " the saying goes. What is it about wisdom that sets it apart from mere intelligence? What is that elusive difference between a simple grasp of the facts and profound understanding? Wisdom has fascinated the human race for thousands of years; philosophers are notorious for being in love with it, and for centuries writers have tried to capture its essence in proverbs and fables. In this book, Trevor Curnow provides an accessible introduction to wisdom and the many ways we have thought about and tried to achieve it throughout history. Drawing on examples from a diversity of eras and places—from ancient Egypt to medieval Europe to modern Africa—Curnow explores the ways we have sought to overcome the problems posed by our existence, such as love and death, with a steadfast wisdom. He shows how many cultures have attributed wisdom to deities such as Apollo, Odin, and Sarasvati, and how, especially, we have placed it within the vehicle of the proverb, which has safeguarded its lessons throughout time and across cultures. Including a collection of one hundred sayings that offer a rich record of wisdom's reification, this history gives new insight into what wisdom actually is and where we might find it.

1

Wisdom, Gods and Goddesses

I shall begin this exploration of the world of wisdom with a visit to its highest realm, that of the divine. Many societies, cultures and religions have had their wise gods and goddesses. While some may belong to cults and religions that have long since disappeared from the face of the earth, others belong to religions that continue to attract millions of followers. These deities have come in many different shapes and sizes, and while they have all had some association with wisdom they have not necessarily all had the same association with it. They may be seen as exemplifying different aspects and different understandings of wisdom. Moreover, because of the durability of many cults and religions, associations may change over time. This may explain some of the apparent confusions and contradictions we see when we look back at the distant past. In the case of some cults and religions the distant past is very distant indeed. But I shall begin this survey in the much more recent past.

Hinduism

In the spring of 1982 I was walking along a road in northern India when I met a procession of young people coming in the opposite direction. As they went past me I was hit by a consignment of red powder. A passer-by helpfully explained that I had unwittingly become caught up in celebrations connected with the feast of the goddess Sarasvati. Sarasvati is a very ancient Indian deity who may have originated as a river goddess. Later she became recognized as the consort of Brahma, the creator god. While some consorts are little more than pale reflections of their partners, however, Sarasvati has a strong identity of her own. Among her many accomplishments, she is above all associated with wisdom and learning. This makes her particularly popular among students, who were the people who had covered me in powder. While the connection between students and wisdom is often a tenuous one, in India it is provided by Sarasvati.

Being associated with learning is not in itself enough to support a reputation for wisdom, and the knowledgeable person is sometimes pointedly contrasted with the possessor of wisdom. Sarasvati, however, is credited with far more than just a wealth of knowledge; she is also regarded as the inventor of the Sanskrit language and the Devanagari script in which it is usually written. Language and literacy are generally regarded as two of the foundation stones of human civilization. Many societies attribute wisdom to those beings (whether divine, legendary or human) who are regarded as responsible for the basic inventions that make civilization possible, and Sarasvati is only the first illustration of this important fact.

It may be noted that as a species we label ourselves Homo sapiens (i.e. ‘wise’), to distinguish ourselves from other similar species that historically failed to attain what we regard as civilization. If we are wise as a species because we are civilized, then the founders of civilization must possess a special wisdom. Although it may not be explicitly framed or articulated in this particular way, this basic thought seems to run throughout a lot of human history. The scope of civilization extends far beyond mere language and literacy, and so do the accomplishments of Sarasvati. Literature as well as literacy fall within her domain, especially poetry. She is also associated with music and is often depicted holding a lute.

Hinduism has many different gods, but undoubtedly one of the most popular of them is Ganesh, who is also associated with wisdom. He is very distinctive in appearance, having the head of an elephant atop a human body. His popularity derives in large part from the fact that he is believed to be a remover of obstacles and a bringer of success, so he is frequently invoked in everyday life. His connection with wisdom comes through his reputation as a patron of literature and learning. In this respect his domain overlaps that of Sarasvati. He is sometimes regarded as the scribe who wrote down the Mahabharata, the great Indian epic, and in cultures where relatively few people are able to write, the position of the scribe is often associated with wisdom. The scribe is often a member of a social elite (distinguished by its education) and sometimes close to, or part of, the political elite. Is it too fanciful to see in Ganesh’s ability to remove obstacles a semblance to the powerful official’s ability to ‘fix’ things? Or, in his ability to put obstacles in the way of those who do not show him enough respect, a semblance of the lowly official angling for a bribe?

Ancient Egypt

A connection between the figure of the scribe and wisdom can also be found among the gods of ancient Egypt. Here the invention of writing was attributed to Thoth, who was regarded as the scribe of the gods. As such, one of his duties was to be the world’s historian, the divine recorder of events. Because he was divine, his knowledge of history extended into the future as well as into the past. As a recorder, he was believed to play a role in the judgement of the dead, and he is often depicted in representations of this process. This led to him being closely associated with the kind of life that people should live, a life that was characterized by honesty and integrity. People would declare that they had conducted their lives in a way that was ‘straight and true like Thoth’.¹ He was credited with many kinds of different knowledge, and was privy to secrets shared by only a few. When required, he might serve the other gods as a counsellor or mediator. The Greeks came to identify him with their own god Hermes.

The goddess Isis was also associated with wisdom. The origins of her cult lie at least as far back in time as 2300 BC, and for centuries it remained very much an Egyptian affair. From around the third century BC onwards, however, her cult began to establish itself further afield and it became one of the most widespread and popular in the whole of the Roman Empire. The goddess came to be identified with many others in Europe and Asia, and various cults were absorbed into her own before it was driven out, or in some cases absorbed, by Christianity.

Of the goddesses who came to be identified with Isis in antiquity, some, such as the Roman Minerva, had some established connection with wisdom, but several others, such as the Greek Aphrodite, had a tenuous link, if any. Apart from all being female, they appear to have had little in common. The original link between Isis and wisdom seems to have been through her magical powers. As the cult developed and expanded it became increasingly associated with healing and oracular activities, both of which also often go hand in hand with wisdom. In due course, she was even credited with the invention of writing. Although Thoth had long been regarded as the creator of hieroglyphics, it seems that the association of writing with wisdom was so strong in the Egyptian outlook on the world that the wisest of goddesses had to have some connection with writing too.

The story of Isis continues to the present day. As one of the great goddesses of antiquity she has proven to be an inspiration to some working in the field of feminist spirituality. The ability of her cult to provide a home for others makes her an obvious goddess to represent the idea of the more generalized and greater ‘Goddess’. As recently as 1976 a new ‘Fellowship of Isis’ was established in Ireland and it is not a coincidence that H. P. Blavatsky’s first book on theosophy, published in 1877, was entitled Isis Unveiled.

Ancient Greece

The massive growth of the cult of Isis outside Egypt is remarkable because of the opposition it must have faced. The Graeco-Roman world into which it expanded was certainly not lacking in deities, and some of these were directly associated with wisdom. Perhaps the most important of these was Apollo. His reputation for wisdom rests in large measure on the many oracles attached to his cult, including the most celebrated of them all at Delphi. However, he was also a healer, a function and profession that also has associations with wisdom in many cultures. Apollo was certainly not the only Greek god with oracular shrines, but he had a significant number of them, including some of the most important ones. Delphi became a kind of cult centre for wisdom in general as well as for Apollo in particular. The Seven Sages of Ancient Greece were said to have all met together there, although it is by no means certain that they ever did. Nevertheless, maxims attributed to them were inscribed on the walls of the temple, making it something of a shrine to wisdom as well as to Apollo.

Even philosophers like Socrates deferred to Delphi. When the oracle declared that no living person was wiser than him, Socrates did not dismiss this as nonsense but sought to understand what it meant. Doubting his own wisdom, he came to the conclusion that if he was the wisest person alive then human wisdom could not be worth much, and compared with divine wisdom it was worth nothing. Socrates was by no means the only person to think this. The idea that wisdom is somehow or ultimately divine in nature can be encountered in a number of different traditions. If it becomes an item of faith that only gods or goddesses can possess wisdom, then it follows that the only way for humans to approach wisdom is through some form of contact with the divine, whether direct or indirect. Turned around, the same item of faith would attribute to gods and goddesses anything regarded as embodying or closely associated with wisdom. This may be why Thoth was credited with the invention of hieroglyphics and Sarasvati with the invention of Devanagari.

Less well known than Apollo, but also associated with wisdom, was the goddess Metis. Indeed, ‘wisdom’ is one of the possible translations of her name. ‘Counsel’ is another one, reflecting the fact that the wise tend to be sought out for their advice. However, it is also possible to interpret it to mean something more akin to ‘cunning’, a term that carries rather more ambivalence with it. Where the wisdom of Thoth was associated with the morally exemplary life, cunningness can sometimes express itself in ways that are amoral if not actually immoral. If we think of wisdom as a purely positive thing, then we will naturally reject any attempts to portray it in a negative way, but wisdom and cunning are sometimes found together in ways that are difficult to disentangle.

As to Metis herself, not many stories are told about her, and she seems to be more of a personification than a person. Her principal claim to fame is that in some stories she appears as the mother of Athena, for whom she provides a suitable genealogy to associate her with wisdom. Like Thoth, Athena was recognized as a counsellor and mediator, although she was also a goddess of war when occasion arose. Although she seems to have had no oracles to channel it through, she passed on good advice directly to her favourites such as Achilles and Odysseus. She was credited with either inventing or giving to the human race (or both) a number of skills and artefacts. The flute, the plough and the chariot were among her inventions, while weaving and spinning were some of the skills she taught to a grateful humanity. As such, she laid a number of the foundation stones of civilization.

Northern Europe

The old gods of northern Europe also had a variety of associations with wisdom. One of the best known of them was the Scandinavian god Odin. Like Athena, he definitely had a martial side. When he gave advice it was usually on military matters, and he was regarded as a master tactician. His reputation for wisdom may stem, at least in part, from the fact that attributes of an older Germanic god, Tiwaz, found their way into his cult. Tiwaz was very clearly associated with wisdom, along with law and justice. But Tiwaz too had a bellicose side to his nature, which was why the Romans identified him with their god Mars.

Two particular stories forge a strong link between Odin and wisdom. The first pits Odin against Vafthrudnir, a giant with a reputation for wisdom and knowledge. Odin visits him in disguise and a battle of wits ensues, which Odin wins. The notion of a ‘wisdom contest’ is far from unique to Norse legend. A famous example is provided by the story of the Sphinx, a creature that took up residence outside the Greek city of Thebes. The Sphinx asked passers-by a riddle, and ate those who failed to solve it. It was finally solved by Oedipus, whereupon (according to one version of the story) the Sphinx committed suicide. In folklore, a wisdom contest is often fought to the death, suggesting that these things could be taken very seriously. Because the answer to a riddle is not obvious, and requires more than just knowledge, riddles and wisdom are often found associated with each other. Finding the solution to a riddle of any difficulty typically requires an act of the imagination, an ability to think outside established or conventional patterns. The solution may not always require a lot of working out, but if the solution is obvious, it is not a riddle. Metaphorically speaking, solving a riddle is like cutting the Gordian knot. When Alexander the Great was presented with a knot no one could untie, he simply cut it in two with his sword.

The English word ‘riddle’ has the same origin as the old word ‘rede’, which means counsel or advice. Alternatively spelt as ‘read’, it is most often encountered now in the epithet attached to King Ethelred II of England, who was known as ‘the Unready’. He was not lacking in preparation, but what he did lack was good advice. It may also be noted that the advice offered by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi was sometimes expressed in something akin to the form of a riddle. However it is to be explained and articulated, a connection between riddles and advice has clearly existed in some cultures.

The second story linking Odin and wisdom involves Mimir, the guardian of a well whose waters brought wisdom to those who drank from them. Naturally he took advantage of this himself and so acquired a considerable reputation for wisdom. Odin was so desperate to drink from the well that he was prepared to sacrifice one of his eyes in order to do so. He got his wish. Later, after Mimir’s death and decapitation, Odin kept his head and consulted it when he needed advice. There is a curious parallel to this in the story of Orpheus; it is said that after his killers threw his head into the sea, it washed up on the shores of the island of Lesbos. Those who found it put it in a cave where it functioned as an oracle.

Perhaps because of his general connection with the bloody battlefield, and with the halls of Valhalla where the fortunate slain were received, Odin was associated with the dead. In some stories told about him he takes on a positively shamanistic character, gaining access to knowledge that others are denied. He was also sometimes credited with the invention of runic writing, although this does not seem to have been a particularly strong tradition. As with Isis, it may be that Odin was given credit for inventing writing because of an already established reputation for wisdom. He also had a reputation for treachery, which might be regarded as an aspect of the darker side of cunning.

In Ireland, the invention of writing was attributed to Ogma, after whom the Ogham alphabet is named. Although scholars disagree as to where the alphabet actually originated, most of the surviving inscriptions do come from Ireland. Like Sarasvati, he was also a god of literature. His sister was Brigit, a goddess of divination, prophecy and healing (and blacksmiths). Between them they manifest a number of connections with wisdom that are plentifully evidenced elsewhere. Over the centuries elements of her cult became combined and confused with that of the Christian St Brigid, who is also known as St Bride. Like Brigit, St Brigid is also associated with healing (and blacksmiths). In some respects and places, the old gods are still with us.

Buddhism and Taoism

We have already seen several examples of gods and goddesses being credited with providing the foundations for civilization. The case of Manjusri is a little different. He may perhaps best be thought of as a divine personification of wisdom within Buddhism. The full picture, however, is far more complicated than that, and only some of the complications may be addressed here. It has already been seen that religions can be very adaptable, responding and adjusting to external influences in a variety of ways. As further evidence of this, according to one tradition, Manjusri was the consort of none other than Sarasvati. Other traditions have him taking on human form in a variety of guises. If he is a personification, then he is certainly no abstraction. He is regarded as a protector of those who worship him, and may sometimes appear to them in dreams. Dreams are regarded as a vehicle for the transmission of divine wisdom in many cultures. Manjusri was also regarded as the patron of grammar, reflecting another way in which divine wisdom may be associated with language and literacy.

In China he is known as Wen Shu, and is usually depicted holding a sword, which is one of his weapons against ignorance. The other is the Buddhist text he carries with him, which contains teachings on wisdom. Tradition has it that he spent many years in China, although there is evidence that his cult had its origins in India. Where the story of Manjusri gets particularly interesting is in Nepal. Local legend has it that the Kathmandu valley was a lake until he used his sword to cut what is now known as the Chhobar Gorge in order to drain it. This made the occupation of the valley possible. A great stupa, known as Swayambhunath, commemorates this feat. Because the Kathmandu valley became the centre of Nepal, many Nepalese regard Manjusri as the effective founder of their nation. Such traditions make it clear that Manjusri is regarded as far more than a simple personification of wisdom. There is a biography as well as an iconography. The story of Chhobar Gorge marks an interesting and rare association of wisdom with what might be regarded as a work of civil engineering, however miraculous it might be.

In Japan, Manjusri is known as Monju, where he finds himself alongside different gods of wisdom such as Fukurokuju. Fukurokuju was probably originally a Chinese Taoist god...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1 Wisdom, Gods and Goddesses
• 2 Wisdom, Myth and Legend
• 3 Wisdom in History
• 4 Wisdom and Literature
• 5 Wisdom and Divination
• 6 Wisdom and Philosophy
• 7 Wisdom, Mysticism and Magic
• 8 Wisdom and Proverbs
• 9 Wisdom and the Present Day
• Conclusion
• Postscript: A Century of Wisdom
• REFERENCES
• FURTHER READING
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• INDEX