Sometimes a man stands up during supper
and walks outdoors, and keeps on walking,
because of a church that stands somewhere in the East.

And his children say blessings on him as if he were dead.

And another man, who remains inside his own house,
dies there, inside the dishes and in the glasses,
so that his children have to go far out into the world
toward that same church, which he forgot.

Rainer Maria Rilke
translated by Robert Bly

The conventional definition of wisdom centers around knowledge and experience. Yes, knowledge and experience are important, and perhaps essential, especially when it comes to getting things accomplished.

I think of wisdom as being much more than knowledge and experience. From the perspective of Zen practice, wisdom is embracing and embodying that there is no fixed self – what we think of our own identities is fluid and in relationship to others and our environment.

Lacking a fixed self, we are not separate from others. Wisdom is also embracing and embodying impermanence, that fact that nothing is fixed, that everything is changing. In essence, wisdom is seeing that there is no difference between what is sacred and what is ordinary or mundane.

Bringing Wisdom Into Our Work – Two thoughts 1) From an “absolute” perspective, it’s not possible to not bring wisdom into our work. No effort is required. Whether we are conscious of the fact or not, we are sacred, wise beings. 2) From a more practical perspective, one way to bring wisdom into our work is to relate to ourselves and to others with compassion, with deep respect, and with love.

The poem above by Rilke is a beautiful and poignant expression of the tension inherent in being a human being. Rilke is torn – either we must leave the world to discover the sacred, or we will pass on the discontent to our children of not leaving the world. If we don’t leave the world, we will shrivel and die.

Yes, sometimes we must leave the world – go on retreats, sit mediation, practice mindfulness. Most of the time we must acknowledge and express the sacred right in the midst of our busy lives, right in the midst of our work. As the old expression says, it’s not as though we can “leave our souls in the parking lot.”

What do you think? How do you bring wisdom into you day to day life?