Three rocks sat buried under a Douglas fir destined as the south border to the pond. It occurred to me while digging out these rocks, that wisdom is acquired in the much the same way as boulders are harvested - over time with effort - and that misunderstandings are some of the most fertile ground to harvest wisdom.
In moving the rock above, I recalled a time with my brother when we were raking leaves. We had been given the chore, and he was complaining, "This is hard."
I'm certain I joined in the reverie, despite my wish to see myself differently. As I move these boulders, I am remiss to want a mentor in that moment in the past with my brother explaining the obvious to us, "This is pulling, piling, lifting, and loading, but not hard."
Misunderstandings occur in a myriad of forms, but most from labeling behavior, like labeling raking or moving boulders as hard.
Wisdom gained from solving misunderstandings requires a situational perspective in which the focus is context rather than person. Because, when considered in context alone, most - if not all - situations are mundane. Like raking and moving rocks.
But to recognize the mundanity is wisdom in and of itself.
I have come about this realization through decades-long trials of my own. A graveyard of tributes to lessons unlearned, relearned, and neglected. Hindsight is blind.
In the years since that raking with my brother, wisdom eludes me still, paraded as the "promised land" of intellectualism, I chase it - to no avail. Then, I laugh at the crudity of my desire - as if this human could be anything other than. But this chiding will not derail the pursuit. My intuition recognizes the complaining in these thoughts, so some progress has been made...maybe wisdom is the harmony of ignorance and intuition. Maybe not. I may never know. But I persevere, for what is life but the sojourn of perspective evolving to see leaves as intelligence and rocks and wise.
