Wisdom Is the deconstruction of wisdom

“True generosity is the willingness to be with ourselves, each other, and all of our experience without tinkering with it.” – A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism

“Buddhist teaching uses the metaphor of a bird to describe the two wings needed to engage the spiritual path: one wing is wisdom—clearly seeing into the emptiness of all things; and the other wing is compassion—the ability to bring care and kindness to everything we see. Both wings are needed to fly.” – A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism

I’ve often pondered the deepest questions of the heart. I’ve spent much time attempting to unravel myself to unfold into my truest form of love, wisdom, and generosity. I included two quotes here because I simply could not decide which one I wanted to talk about more, and I’ve found that they are both tied together with the same concept. As I have travelled the path of self-discovery, I have found my own answer to what it means to love. It is said here that this quality is given to ourself and others by being “willing” to sit and be open with each other and ourselves without “tinkering with” our experiences. 

I notice that we often tinker with, or attempt to solve our problems immediately upon feeling them in ourselves and our bodies. When you are hungry, you eat. Is it truly generous to sit and be with a starving man instead of “tinkering with” and getting involved in his issues by just buying him some lunch? Surely that is generous! And I say it is. However, the willingness to simply be and listen is what true generosity is. We feed our own ideas of what is needed to satisfy our projected suffering so that we can be whole, even if that wholeness comes from the satisfaction of being generous. Have we ever truly experienced anything and anyone without using their being as a way to tell ourselves who we are? Once we see this, all we once knew becomes empty.

And it is said here, that this ability to see into the emptiness is “wisdom” – a necessary component to fly* (or: *thrive in success, love, and abundance while inspiring others to do the same). This wisdom is one of our wings. But is wisdom the ability to see into the emptiness of all things? Is wisdom an acceptance of deconstruction and is hilariousness? Is our understanding of construction our gateway to re-entering the construct as a wise person? 

The same goes with compassion. Deep, true compassion; “the ability to bring care and kindness into everything we see.” The reapplication of interconnectedness, and love! Is this what allows us to fly? But I say that wisdom is the understanding of all perspectives, wound together in a flowing bow of understanding; it is not a separate lens. For the “lens” of wisdom is the quality of wisdom applied to one of our perspectives. Wisdom, is a quality. Just like compassion. Just like love. Our understanding of deep connectedness and emptiness brings us love and compassion, but wisdom is the understanding of these components. 

There was a moment in my life where I found this emptiness. I sat at an old cemetery, in front of the grave of someone close to me, as everything fell apart. My stories of self, my concept of labels and words – they all fell through my fingers like fine sand. And I could only laugh at the absurdity. I spent some time in this thought, fully breathing it out. There was another moment where I was sitting in my kitchen, listening to the birds through my cracked window. A wave of understanding flooded my being – ah. Everything is connected. The manmade stories of stories created my deconstruction and the energy facilitated it all. And love, my friend, was the only way to carry myself through discovering my wings. Compassion. The willingness to sit with myself, without trying to become something other than what I deeply am. That was generous. That was love. 

P.S. Something that helped me is asking the questions that allow me to understand and experience myself, rather than try to solve and fix myself. 

Love,
Noah