He Lives in Wisdom

By Jack Harich - July 3, 2002

The following few words express my personal philosophy as clearly as possible. They were written years ago as I tried to understand the universal patterns of perception and reaction that were swirling all around me and within me. These words helped me in times of trouble and more importantly, to prevent times of trouble. They are shared here for others who may be facing their own troubled times.

Much of this is derived from the Bhagavad Gita, an ancient poetic tale from India, as well as from Judea-Christian philosophy and western theories on the self and the ego. Basically the idea is to stay in a state of detachment from events and outcomes, while still staying very attached to the world of beauty, friendship, and meaningful existence, in what could be described as a state of simplicity, non-attachment, clarity, and awareness. To allow this to happen, a model of understanding is necessary, one that explains why we behave the way we normally do, and how there is an alternative.

There is much overlap between this statement of philosophy and the Cycle of Acceptance. I still find myself reciting the entire statement during my long walks or at other times, whenever I feel I'm beginning to lose my normal sense of happiness, optimism, and clarity. Or I may recite it just to see if there may be some additional nugget of wisdom not yet mined, or something that may apply to a current situation.

The photo is of me in the third grade in Glasva, Maryland, US. After writing He Lives in Wisdom, my attitude changed, my smile became even bigger, I immediately felt a great sense of calm sweep over me, and I felt much better and totally different about this funny world we live in. I still have bouts of non-wisdom, but these are much less frrequent.

The following words are a necessary tool for the mind to help itself:

He lives in wisdom,
Who sees himself in all,
And all in him.

Whose love for infinite love
Has consumed every sense craving
And selfish desire tormenting the heart.

Not agitated by grief,
Nor hankering after pleasure,
He is not elated by good fortune
Nor depressed by bad.

Fettered no more by selfish attachments,
He lives free from desire, fear and anger.
Such is one who sees with clarity.

But when the attention dwells on sense objects,
Attachment comes.

Attachment breeds the lust of possession and achievement,
Which when pursued flies to worry,
And when thwarted burns to anger.
Both cloud the judgment,
And rob one of the ability to learn from others
Or from one's own experience.
Gone is the discriminative facility
And one's life is utter waste.

But when one moves amidst The World of Sense
From both passion and aversion freed,
There comes the peace in which all sorrows end,
And one lives in the wisdom of the self.

The disunited mind is far from wise.
How can it meditate?
How know it peace?

When one lets the mind follow the siren call of the senses,
They carry away the better judgment,
As a typhoon drives a boat off its charted course to its doom.

He is forever free who has broken out of the ego cage of I and mine.

Attain thou this,
And pass from where you are now,
To where you have always been.