The writer of the comic above nailed it. The idea that we can become anything we wish to become (regardless of our talents and personalities) merged decades ago with the idea that each one of us can be an expert (without the need for either advanced education or training, and/or without much experience). That merger had as one of its side-effects, the beginning of the self-help industry. It had appeal. It was the marketing of the loner expert who–against all opposition–manages to break through and become enlightened in his/her field. Then that person turns around and benevolently wishes to help his/her fellow human being. Some write books while some become motivational speakers. Either way, it is the opportunity to make much money without being responsible for the results of your advice.
Contrast that to holy Christians throughout the centuries. With a few exceptions, most of them spent years serving an apprenticeship to the Lord. At times they did not even realize that God had them under his wing and was training them. But, some were in monasteries learning from the saints of yore. Even Saint Paul the Apostle spent several years in anonymity before Saint Barnabas went to convince him to go to Antioch. And in Antioch he spent another few years simply being one of the teachers and prophets who were there. To learn wisdom was to spend time with the Lord and with others in community. Even the hermits were related back to the Church and were not truly alone in their solitude.
And, when people began to acclaim them as elders, or when they were sent out on mission by God and the community, or when they began to give their advice, they would take responsibility for the people to whom they gave advice or whom they evangelized. Do you realize that the letters of Saint Paul were almost uniformly written to address problems that had cropped up in the various communities? He even talks to the Corinthians about they being written on his heart. Compare that to the motivational speaker who gets a group of people pumped up, never learns their names, and leaves town with a clump of money in his/her hand. Even at the end of his life, when Saint Paul finished writing 2 Timothy, he pens a number of greetings to various people in various towns. He never forgets those to whom he was a wise elder.
Modern ideas of wisdom are most certainly a far cry from the godly model, are they not?
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