Dear All
I thought I had finished with Friends of Wisdom, but two very recent messages have prompted me to write. I donĀ“t think what I am about to say will make me popular.
First, I think the main reason why FoW has not fulfilled its early potential is because it is far too focused on Nick, the person and the ideas. If Nick has started this venture by calling it "Friends of Nick", that would have been more honest, and, who knows, may have led to something. So, one of the two reasons why I dropped out is because, effectively, "non-Nick" voices are not heard.
The other reason is that I think that the only way to introduce wisdom into academia is by introducing wise people. I think there is no other way. The problem with this is that, in my experience, wise people try keep as far away from academia as they can, no doubt because academia tends to be toxic to wisdom.
None of the above is to suggest that I am wise (occasional flickers of light perhaps!). I suspect that it takes many lifetimes to become truly wise, and I know that I still have some way to go.
One more thing - and I do hope I am stating the obvious - there is absolutely no relationship between being wise and being intellectual, except perhaps an inverse one.
Best to all from Barcelona
Chris Thomson
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