“The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.” — William Blake
You’ve heard this one.
Whether you understood it or not, you know it sounds wise.
Perhaps Mr. Blake here has followed his own advice and has become a wise fool.
But what does it mean to be a fool?
You probably know a good handful of fools and they don’t seem like they’ll sing songs of wisdom anytime soon.
What gives?
Well, the hallmark of the fool who becomes wise is that her folly is absolute.
She’s not a fool by default.
She discovered she was a fool by a painful process of self-confrontation. And it’s not that this self-confrontation made her wise either.
It only further affirmed her foolishness.
You might think you can aim to see yourself as the fool you are in order to become wise. This kind of thinking will keep you a fool.
The fool who becomes wise is the fool who doesn’t hold anything back.
She recognizes her secret wish for wisdom as yet another piece of foolishness. In other words, as long as she thinks she knows something she isn’t foolish enough.
You might think you need to empty that cup of yours so that it can be filled with wisdom.
That’s a perfectly foolish thing to think. Good job! You’re well on your way.
Wisdom isn’t knowledge. Wisdom isn’t something to be obtained.
You don’t need an empty cup. What do you need a small measly cup for? Discard it.
Throw the baby out with the bathwater and the tub right with it.
Wisdom moves in when there is empty space. But it doesn’t stay.
It doesn’t stay because it’s not something.
It’s like air flowing through a flute — it is never the same air passing through.
It’s not a piece of advice you can repeat for anyone who cares to listen.
Wisdom can come in the form of advice; it can come in the form of silence; it can come in the form of a slap to the face.
It is an energy that moves through the one who doesn’t hold on to anything, to the one who has found certainty in uncertainty, to the one who has recognized her emptiness, to the one who faces life nakedly.
How can wisdom use you if you insist on your knowledge, if you know what’s right in theory, if life is a matter of preparation instead of spontaneity?
How can you know life if you keep fortifying the wall between you and it?
The fool who persists in her folly will see it all dissolve. The judgments fall away, the walls crumble, the clothes come off.
The ideas, beliefs, facts, and stories will reveal themselves as free from substance.
Everything will be apparent as nothing at all.
The fool will perceive it all as if for the first time.
She will listen to the wind howling and hear one hand clapping.
She will look at you and see only herself.
The fool will know nothing at all and have obtained perfect wisdom.
Luka
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