Valuing Cleverness: Leading us off the Path of Intent
Reflecting on original intent – intended ways of living, intended upward unfolding – has created within, a question regarding cleverness: What is the origin of cleverness? We see this question – and efforts at answering it – manifested throughout various cultures and traditions. There is, for example, within Native American thought, a common association of cleverness with the coyote. My own reflections have taken me to the Garden of Eden. The cleverness of the snake (the evil one) has seduced humankind to reject wisdom – intentional wisdom – and follow the path of knowledge… a reason-led path which ultimately leads us towards cleverness. The fractionating reductionist practice of reason inevitably creates a plethora of rules – rules that serve judgement, but do not reflect the reality of the systemic wholistic ways of life… a plethora of rules that create motivation and cultural status around cleverness… cleverness with regard to rules – societal rules… cleverness as a way of achieving desires… a cleverness that is endemic within our cultural ways. We can see this within our legal system, in our moving away from justice, and more and more towards cleverness – cleverness within defense, within prosecution, within investigation, etc. Within business – within our ways of doing business – we have moved away from ethics and towards legal cleverness. In religion, we seek proof and convincing argument, rather than living out the intentional virtues of truth, love and mercy. In sports, ethics give way towards cleverness, cleverness in winning, winning at all cost. Within the press, a free press which our country Founders consciously understood is critical to sustaining the intent and intended ways of democracy, cleverness shows up in sensationalism and irresponsible excitation and energization of our people, of our pursuits, and in particular within the children. And on and on and on. All of which share a common characteristic – a disconnect from intentional purpose accompanied by financial extraction… a disconnect from original intent, the forming core of those processes, institutions and living systems critical to our wellbeing and to a healthy working society.
Now is the time of potential… a time for coming together – as a people, as community – to reconnect to wisdom, the wisdom of intent… to regenerate intentional purposes… to create a culture/cultures that work for all children in the world… all of which requires the development – within ourselves, our community, our country – of faith in intent.
Humbly in service, Terry P. Anderson
A Developer of the Living Philosophy of Potential
