YouTube: Tapping Into Universal Wisdom

The Lord created me [wisdom] at the beginning of his work,
    the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Proverbs 8:22-23

The Old Testament is broken into categories by genre. The OT books that fall into the genre of wisdom literature are grouped together as Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. In this passage from Proverbs, the “me” that the Lord created at the beginning of his work is Wisdom. The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia. If you delve into the Christian Gnostic literature, you find they regarded Sophia as a feminine figure comparable to the human soul. They considered Sophia the female twin of Jesus, the Bride of Christ, the Holy Spirit of the Trinity, and a direct emanation of the godhead.

These metaphors point to the truth that there is no place where God leaves off and we, as individuals, begin. As emanations of the godhead, we are literally infused with the wisdom that was set up before the beginning of the earth.

Emerson said it this way:

“There is guidance for each of us, and by lowly listening we shall hear the right word. . .. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which flows into you as life, place yourself in the full center of that flood, then you are without effort impelled to truth, to right, and a perfect contentment.”

Wisdom is that which is in alignment with the natural way things work. What Emerson calls “lowly listening” is intuitive or soul-based knowing. It is the harmony demonstrated through the natural world, through the birds of the air and the lilies of the field whose needs are met and who live in perfect peace with their environment.

We tap into universal wisdom by seeing ourselves as an emanation of the godhead. In moments of quiet withdraw from the world, we envision the wisdom of God radiating from the center that is our soul to the circumference that is our life. This simple, heartfelt act opens the natural channel for the light of truth to shine in and through us.