Hello, my name is Father Gregory Pine, and I'm a Dominican friar of the province of St. Joseph, and this is Pines of the Aquinas.

In this episode, I'd like to talk about wisdom.

Because in the 21st century, it seems to me that we are at a loss for wisdom.

So a lot of people out there who have knowledge, a lot of people out there who have understanding,

but not as many who have wisdom.

And perhaps this has always been the case, but it feels more acute now.

And I think it's because as our families break down, and our politics break down, and our churches break down,

the incoherence of our present state is brought before our eyes, and we look for ways by which to live well.

And in the ordinary course, we would have followed what wise persons do.

And we're at a loss now to lay hold of those persons.

And we feel like we have to invent our own existence, or we have to invent our own life projects.

Which is a tough place to be.

So I think that it's worthwhile to turn back to wisdom, to seek to cultivate wisdom, to perfect wisdom in our own lives,

so that way we can re-infuse the culture with a wise sensibility.

So let's go ahead and talk a little bit about wisdom.

Alright, so I want to talk about three kinds of wisdom.

What we'll call philosophical wisdom, theological wisdom, and then mystical wisdom.

And these wisdoms are going to draw on our kind of pagan and Jewish and Christian roots, and achieve a kind of synthesis.

So it's not like steps through which you progress, so much as it is different expressions of the one search for wisdom,

all of which are in accord, or all of which are in concert, to be held together, and not in conflict,

but which operate in different registers, or make different pursuits.

So let's think first about philosophical wisdom.

...