Theos-Talk Archives (June 2003 Message tt00267)

dalval14@earthlink.net wrote:
> My answer:
> I disagree with that. Can you please explain how you can equate
> "Common sense" and "openness" with what you call "WISDOM" ? I
> just don't get it. Maybe some other readers care to make a remark
> on that.
>
> Anyone ?
Not so sure how openness has ANYTHING to do with knowledge or wisdom, 
but I can comment on common sense.

John Algeo (who, if nothing else, is an expert in American English and 
etymology) has pointed out that the term "common sense" does not refer 
to any characteristic shared by many people (or commonly), but the 
ability to use the sensory data we have together, in common. It can be 
considered to be a synonym for intuitive wisdom.

The problem with "common sense" is that it only works if the sensory 
data we are receiving is accurate. With instrumentation that amplifies 
our senses, or tells us information which is simply not otherwise 
available to our senses, we have learned that "common sense" is very 
often wrong.

Common sense led to the Newtonian laws of mechanics, and the conclusion 
that they apply to everything, no matter how big or how small. But using 
information not available to our senses, we have discovered that 
Newtonian mechanics ignores an important factor, because at our 
approximate size and accelerations at which we are familiar, the factor 
is so close to zero that the instrumentation required to even see that 
the factor exists has only been available for the last century or so 
(although, based on the writings of Blavatsky, the Mahatmas, their 
sources, the fact that there were factors not accounted for in Newtonian 
Mechanics was known well before then). And this new information showed 
that size DID matter; that Newtonian mechanics did not work at all for 
very large or very small objects.

Common sense is the ability that the 5th Root race needs to develop. It 
leads to many discoveries about the Universe. Our modern 
instrumentation, by extending the senses, is bringing this facility even 
further. But there are limits even there. To perform experiments to 
extend our knowledge of quantum mechanics much further would require 
more energy than exists in the entire known Universe. Yes, common sense 
can lead to much wisdom. But, at least without an unforeseeable leap in 
ways of extending our senses even further, we are reaching the limit to 
that which it can tell us (mind you, we probably aren't going to 
actually reach the limit in our lifetimes).

Now, if the founders of the Theosophical Society are to be believed, 
there is wisdom beyond what common sense can teach us. But to receive 
it, we must first exhaust that which we can learn from common sense, at 
least in certain directions. What directions? Beats the hell out of me. 
If I knew, I wouldn't be here. I'd be up in a mountain in Tibet 
gathering chelas, or laughing at those who are there.

Bart