The Wisdom of Youth

Grasp of Ideas

“The purpose of words is to convey ideas. When the idea is grasped the words are forgotten. Where can I find a man who has forgotten the words. He is the one I want to talk to.”

                                                Chua n Tzu

My friend, Harry, and I set out to lead a Sunday morning spirituality group because we thought we had some wisdom and experience to convey to the young people in the church who are grappling with all sorts of issues of life and faith. Boy! Were we turned around backwards. These twenty-somethings are thinking thoughts that I didn't have until my forties. They are teaching me something new every single Sunday.

Yesterday, we discussed the concept of 'harmony'—the idea that when our way of life matches our personal truth, we are in harmony. And when the two don't match, we experience turbulence. We spoke of prayer as a way of drawing our energy up to a higher level; of changing negative to positive by moving up the channel from low vibrations to ever higher. Moving, so to speak, from base energy (negative), which is discordant and inharmonious, to heart energy (positive), which is a higher and more concordant vibration, before we speak to, or about, another human being. One young man compared it to his and his wife's experience when tuning two instruments to the same note. He said, as you move closer and closer to the tuning note, the dissonance between them becomes greater and harsher. But as soon as you hit the right note, the same vibration, with both instruments, it levels out into one beautiful sound. Great analogy, right! I think Harry and I can retire now.

Youth has its own wisdom—that of fresh ideas, of new light. They take our old notions and fashion them into new concepts that fit their own lives. It reminds me of their penchant for buying “vintage” clothes, (the ones that we wore as young folks!) and giving them a whole new look simply by turning them out in a different way—slip on the outside, with a frilly apron and combat boots! I love their funky fashions, and creative ways of expressing themselves. They grasp our ideas...maybe even better than we do.

                                           In the spirit,

                                              Jane