The Wonder of Wisdom in a Cynical World

S3 E3 The way we look at the world and ourselves profoundly impacts the way we live our lives. In a world of so much cynicism, complexity and confusion, wisdom can help us move forward with less emotional baggage and more hope, awe and wonder with the daily decisions we have to make. How can we unpack what we mean by wonder? In this podcast conversation we explore the following quotation from Proverbs 30:18-19. This carefully crafted saying has been described as a testimony to wonder and an exercise in wondering: “Three things are too wonderful for me; four things I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a woman.” Can you grasp something of this wonder by the four examples poetically described in nature around us? Here is how one Bible commentator, William Brown describes it: “How are they possible, these baffling means of movement? What do they share in common: soaring eagles, slithering snakes, floating ships and love-making couples? Each example by itself arrests the attention but together they conjure a world of wonder. The proverb’s appeal derives from its power to elicit bewildered curiosity. To presume that a tidy solution lies behind these four disparate images would run counter to the sage’s own confession of befuddled awe. These ‘four things,’ the sage testifies will always retain an element of mystery regardless of how much is known about them, no matter how well each ‘way’ can be explained. Such is the sage’s testimony: there is nothing quite like ships, snakes and sex (not to mentions soaring raptors) to provoke a sense of wonder.” On one level so ordinary, but if we pause to consider each they are profoundly mysterious and deeply curious, stirring inner longings in a way that can be hard to express. Exploring wisdom is also like observing different facets of a diamond. In our conversation we also unpack the three Biblical books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job that each give a different perspective on wisdom. The bright young teacher of Proverbs wants to show us that there is wise order to the way the world runs. The middle aged cynic of Ecclesiastes tries to explore wisdom ‘under the sun’ without an eternal perspective and becomes increasingly confused by what seem to be the simple answers of Proverbs. Job, the seasoned old man who has gone through the good, bad and ugly of life reminds us how wisdom is often hidden. To be wise we need to grasp all three perspectives from this endlessly fascinating diamond. Do join us in our conversation to learn how wonder can help you overcome a cynical world.

You can listen to The Wonder of Wisdom in a Cynical World online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The Wonder of Wisdom in a Cynical World is an episode from Making Sense of Life by Dr Sunil Raheja.

This episode is 00:25:38 long.

This episode was published on Jul 14, 2022.

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