“Pursue wisdom like a hunter, and lie in wait on her paths.”
Ben Sira (Sirach 14:22)
There is something primordial about hunting. In part, because we all need to find certain things—things that call for hunting of some kind.
Hunting done well is always about life. There are men who are simply killers, and so their hunting is about killing. Shudder at the thought: they enjoy seeing something die. Then there are real hunters: they love life and they hunt for the sake of it. In successful hunting for animals, a living thing must die. But done rightly there is great respect, care, and gratitude for the life that is taken.
There is also ‘hunting’ for other things in human life. We say that we hunt for a job, a home, or a friend. Or wisdom. We can ask ourselves why we call this ‘hunting;’ or in other words, what might we learn from a comparison to the primary analogate (hunting animals) in this analogy?
When Ben Sira speaks of hunting wisdom, the analogy to hunting animals is explicit. We are bidden to lie in wait on her paths. In hunting animals, one must first know where to find them. Then one must go there, and wait.
Waiting. This is hard to do. It is an active, studied waiting. One cannot sleep or even doze. One scans, carefully, constantly, patiently. And this must be in the right place, otherwise the vigilance is for naught.
The paths of wisdom—what a striking image!—just where are they? Where does wisdom live? Where does she travel? Like an animal, her ways are predictable—if we take the time to discover them. Indeed, she is even more predictable, since her ways are never haphazard.
Surely we will find her paths if we look for those who trod them. Where the wise live, how the wise live: this is where we will find wisdom! We will need to follow them, keep company with them, speak with them, and study with them (including their writings), and also act like them.
One piece of good news is that in this hunt no one will die. The only death here will be a death to ourselves, and our old ways of acting and thinking, as we strive to conform ourselves to the ways of wisdom.
The other good news is that our prey does not seek to elude us. Indeed, to the extent that we struggle and even seem to lose our way, this is actually part of preparing for success. For we were made for wisdom, and the paths of hunting it are themselves already the first steps in achieving it.
“Pursue wisdom like a hunter, and lie in wait on her paths.” Happy hunting! And may we be united along the way.
~ ~ ~
Continuing to expand the Concepts Made Clear (CMC) series of short videos. This week look for videos to address the reality of NATURE. Coming soon, a series on Wisdom. This video gives you a primer question to consider (in a winter wonderland!):
Join the Community.
Become a LifeCraft Member and gain access to our online courses and exclusive content. It's FREE of charge. Period.
If you join as a contributing member, you will help make this content available to an increasing audience and enable me to spend more time in this work. I thank you in advance.
Join the LifeCraft community today and get access to:
- Man of the Household (Course)
- Woman of the Household (Course)
- Concepts Made Clear (Mini-course)
- Dinner at Home (Mini-course)
Facing Discouragement: A Greek Insight
Discouragement, or at least its temptation, regularly accompanies intentional living. Even if we do not formulate it explicitly we find ourselves feeling “why do the good things I want have to be so difficult?” It is a consolation to know this is not unique to our...
Toxic Fatherhood?
There are important analogies between a father in a family and a ruler in a nation. This is perhaps especially clear in the consequences of their failure. Aquinas writes that “royal dignity is rendered hateful to many people on account of the wickedness of tyrants.”...
Master of His Time
“He had no ‘time of his own’ (except in his bed-cell), and yet he was becoming master of his time; he began to know just what he could do with it.” J.R.R. Tolkien, Leaf by Niggle Many of the greatest traps of our day appear in the guise of simple math. One of them...
Husband, father, and professor of Philosophy. LifeCraft springs from one conviction: there is an ancient wisdom about how to live the good life in our homes, with our families; and it is worth our time to hearken to it. Let’s rediscover it together. Learn more.
Thank you Dr Cuddeback, for your piece on the pursuit of wisdom. The hunt. Yes, I have been hunting for and hungering for wisdom for many years. The opportunity to take your philosophy classes was a covid blessing(can I say that?). I am now signed up for Theology with Dr Staudt. But many days I still wonder, so now what. I have taken the class, still pondering, but now what. No one here to share with or talk to about the subject. When I speak about philosophy I am met with “what’s that?”. When I mention wisdom, they say,” yes, I want that!” but without the thought of how to attain it.
Your message reminds me that it is a lifelong hunt, the never ending pursuit. Mostly elusive (for me) but then the clouds part for a moment and a thought is rekindled and then the beginning of an understanding. But just the beginning.
I am continuing the pursuit, especially asking the Lord and St Thomas to lead me to men and women who live a life of pursuing wisdom, those who will teach me and help me so that I can help another. Your posts and writings and videos are a helpful resource. So thank you very much.
I pray that the good Lord continue to pour his wisdom upon you.
Denise
Denise, Thank you very much for sharing this. This is a story of graces and challenges. I completely understand that you find yourself wondering: what next? If I may be bold and make a suggestion, I would like to say this: have confidence in exactly what you are doing. You are on the hunt; you are doing your part in looking, seeking, and waiting. And you are putting first things first: turning to Wisdom Himself. When the Lord opens a door, you enter it. You are reading, and you are studying. So I say, steady onward. Remember, persevering in the hunt is already worth more than we can imagine.
Thank you for that encouragement. Such a help. More than you know (or, you may know).
In reference to the question of what is nature I offer this thought. I think the question raises a larger question and that is to consider existence itself. Not just the existence of living things, but the existence of everything. There is a great paradox here it seems because the non-contemplative approach is to do what we all do and that is take it completely for granted, not so much in not wondering what caused all of reality to exist (that question is indeed often wondered), but rather existence as it is, is simply taken for granted. Yet if one does think about existence, the more astounding and incomprehensible the idea of it becomes, including of course the idea of a God that always was. Just think about that for a second. Something that always was. I cannot comprehend that. And as such, there is no alternative but for existence of all things to exist. There can be no non-existence. Nature is therefore a manifestation of that existence and each and everything, living and non living, has to be part of nature.
Bob, You make some profound points. I offer a couple of thoughts. I love your point that we tend to take existence as it is for granted. That is, we don’t consider how amazing are the specific forms of being as we know it, and we don’t consider whether and how it might have been otherwise. Then, coming to the notion of God as the Being that simply is (and thus always has been) we have a distinction between Divine Being itself on the one hand, which cannot be other than it is, and on the other hand all else that exists, which could have not been at all. Here we touch upon some of the deepest issues in the quest for wisdom. It is good that we can start by simply wondering about the things that exist in the natural world. But then if we pursue reflecting upon them, it will bring us to the higher questions.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
A great luminary through the darkening of the age, Dr. Alice von Hildebrand has passed.
May Our Lord bring her to an eternal rest in His peace.
Amen. Amen.