Page 5 - NAMAH-Oct-2024

Reason and Wisdom 1

6 — Late, I learned that when reason died then Wisdom was born; before that
liberation, I had only knowledge.

Once again I must repeat that the form of these aphorisms is purposely paradoxical in
order to give the mind a little shock and awaken it enough for it to make an effort to
understand. One must not take this aphorism literally. Some people seem worried by the
idea that reason must disappear for one to become wise. It is not that, it is not that at all.

Reason must no longer be the summit and the master.

For a very long time in life, until one possesses anything resembling Knowledge, it is
indispensable that reason be the master, otherwise one is the plaything of one’s impulses,
one’s fancies, one’s more or less disordered emotional imaginings, and one is in danger
of being very far removed not merely from wisdom but even from the knowledge
needed for conducting oneself acceptably. But when one has managed to control all the
lower parts of the being with the help of reason, which is the apex of ordinary human
intelligence, then if one wants to go beyond this point, if one wants to liberate oneself
from ordinary life, from ordinary thought, from the ordinary vision of things, one must,
if I may say so, stand upon the head of reason, not trampling it down disdainfully,
but using it as a stepping stone to something higher, something beyond it, to attain to

1 Heading provided by the Editor

5