Why Wisdom is More Important Than Dogma
In the Christian tradition it is common place to imagine that dogma is the most important element of faith. Correct dogma is often perceived as the assurance of heaven-a ticket to eternal safety, and wisdom as something extraneous-relegated perhaps to certain parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, but certainly not as important to us as dogma.
While "correct doctrine" (orthodoxy) is indeed critical to Christianity (particularly institutional Christianity), and any religious tradition certainly will have its means of self-definition which determine its legitimate boundaries, ultimately dogma by itself fails us. It provides no real model for our passageway through human existence. It gives us little that is of practical or transformative value other than a set of beliefs to which we must adhere "religiously."
Wisdom, on the other hand, is about life itself-about knowing the "taste" (or experience) of life from the inside, and not simply seeing it from the perspective of a set of beliefs. Its purpose is to bring eternity into the present moment as a mode of relationship to the Living Presence. Its principles enjoin us to experience the fullness of our lives both with understanding, and more importantly, with attention. Eternity is never known through propositions. It involves us living relationships (immanent and transcendent) in the present moment.
Wisdom's goal is to put human beings in touch with Ultimate Reality now rather than later. Also, because it is about relational exchange (relationships with other beings-human and transcendent to humanity), it teaches ways of knowing, being, and seeing, which understand and realize the ways those relationships are enlivened up and down the vertical axis. Wisdom is about our ability to live out dynamic principles engaging the assistance of a hierarchy of beings including the angelic world.
Another of wisdom's goals is not simply to teach information, but to ground us in truth through lived experience in a "dualistic universe." The key element is not simply to understand truth doctrinally, but to live it bi-dimensionally along both axes of reality (horizontal and vertical) in a state of flexible receptivity. This means living from our center (the heart), and perceiving the truth (as meaning) through all its modalities, many of which transcend reason and language (hence, dogma).
Living wisdom is the discovery of the treasure (the pearl of great price) which is hidden in the "earthen vessel" of our existence. Each human being is a unique archetype which is only manifested through the energy of the divine Presence which actualizes that archetype. The result is an epiphany of truth transcendent to dogma.
Lynn C. Bauman
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