11 - 14 - 17 The Watermelon of Wisdom (4 minutes)

Wisdom 6:12-16

“Resplendent and unfading is wisdom,

and she is readily perceived by those who love her,

and found by those who seek her.

She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of their desire;

Whoever watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed,

for he shall find her sitting by his gate.

For taking thought of wisdom is the perfection of prudence,

and whoever for her sake keeps vigil

shall quickly be free from care;

because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her,

and graciously appears to them in the ways,

and meets them with all solicitude.”

I feel like wisdom is often pictured as something incredibly hard to obtain. We have these images in our mind of astronomers climbing mountains, or explorers facing storms and danger, or just incredibly hard work that seems to go on interminably with no reward in sight. But these activities aren’t done in pursuit of wisdom, they are done in pursuit of knowledge! They are certainly similar but this reading made me finally understand how fundamentally different they are.

Knowledge is of man, hence why we can have false knowledge (Bohr’s model of the atom or old maps of the New World). Knowledge, especially in the modern era, is something experimental. It says, “I have seen” or “I measured.” Lewis has a passage where he says that all science really boils down to “I pointed my telescope at so and so at 2 AM on April 9^th and saw this” or “I mixed these two things and heated them and it changed color and started smoking.”

We often tend to forget how humble the real nature of science is. It’s quite understandable, given the cars that drive themselves, the fertilizers that triple crop yields, the life-saving medicines. Scientific knowledge is nothing more than the collection of our experiences, catalogued as objectively as is possible for a human person. Engineering is merely the application of this knowledge. I see something very fine, very excellent and beneficial for humanity, but I don’t see anything otherworldly. There’s nothing about science that’s got real magic to it, once you understand the logics behind something, that it would work is not only believable, that it wouldn’t work is surprising.

Wisdom, especially as portrayed in this passage, is an entirely different thing. It is similar to knowledge in that we must pursue it to attain it: “She is perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.” Surely no one ever grew in their faith by not attending to their faith. It is similar to the conundrum of prayer, our own prayers don’t make us holier, but they are the avenue to allow God to make us holier. I think it is the same way with wisdom, we can’t get it if we don’t pursue it because the only way we will be in a state where we can accept the gift is if we are reaching for it.

You wouldn’t toss someone a watermelon if they weren’t ready for it. If they really wanted one and had braced themselves, it’s a gift. If you tossed it at them by surprise (though it has never ceased to be a good thing in and of itself) you’d have committed a profoundly rude, and strange, act.

Indeed, one of these avenues of pursuit is described as watching, through the night. To simply be aware, to be ready for that watermelon of wisdom to come flying your way is a sort of grasping.

I thought the second half was interesting as well, considering the felicity of wisdom. I think the stereotypical image of wisdom is an elderly person who looks more like a tortoise than a lion. Even the phrase “sadder but wiser” suggests that with wisdom comes a certain weariness, this conception that one can only become wise by going through things that kill little pieces of you.

The reading contrasts briskly with this image, showcasing how prudence and wisdom will deliver us from our worldly cares. We don’t usually think of wisdom and prudence generating happiness, or joy, but what else could? What other powers do we have to make our lives agreeable besides planning ahead and understanding God’s will for us?

I mentioned earlier how it was possible for knowledge to be false, here is another place where wisdom contrasts. Wisdom cannot be false, there can be things that do not come from God but are acclaimed as Wisdom. But by its very definition, that God is the ultimate source of all wisdom, there can be no false wisdom. You cannot disprove which of the travelers was the true neighbor to the man who had been beaten and robbed. You cannot argue against Sirach’s exhortations. There is no philosophical argument that could debunk the directive against covetousness.