Nobody is born wise

Everyone arrives naked and screaming.

Whether priest, plumber or politician—we all begin in blood and chaos.

The emergence of new life is a miracle, but the weight of life swiftly asserts itself upon the new arrival.

Our eventual freedom must begin in total dependence. The sharp edges and tough truths of life are kept at arms length for us. This process of dependency lasts longer for human beings than for any other animal, and means we possess potential at the cost of vulnerability.

The growing mind is voracious. It absorbs anything and everything in its unquenchable thirst for reality. It will drink heartily from all experiences, but lacks any discernment. As it learns, so it transforms.

When we meet with trauma the mind absorbs, recoils and sometimes doesn’t bounce back in quite the same way. A message is burned deeply into its fibres, often at a level below conscious awareness so that it can speak quickly and without interruption

The first forms of order that carry us from day-to-day are held in place by others. But as we grow up and in to the world, we must generate our own order and refine our own sense-making.

We must sift through the chaos, set down our routines, and make our way. But we learn an awful lot before we know that we know anything at all. The results are mixed, and highly dependent on the parents, teachers, bullies and culture around us.

Our growth starts with the fulfilment of our basic needs, before unfolding toward something more complete. We default to ‘getting by’ and ‘getting more’, and sometimes we get stuck there.

The further development of a set of qualities that allow us to face life with resilience, intelligence, strength, love, humour and equanimity are in no way guaranteed. But when they do emerge, we collectively call them wisdom.

Nobody is born wise. Wisdom must be brewed from scratch in each body—a wildly unpredictable reaction of advice, epiphany, suffering, embarrassment and the willingness to keep going anyway.

You didn’t choose to be here. But you can choose how to react in the next moment.