The Wisdom of the Ancients

I have been thinking a lot lately about "the wisdom of the ancients".  I would imagine that the phrase brings to mind many different things for different people but overall, people today seem to be putting more and more stock in old things vs modern things.  We love vintage cars and though most of us wouldn't build our homes the old way, we want our homes to look old so we use false stone and brown stuccos that give our homes an old earthy feeling.  Much of the world is turning to heirloom vegetables, whole foods grown the old (organic) way and ancient remedies to solve the modern health problems that now plague our society.  In the realm of Spirituality, more and more people are turning either to the "new age" movement which consists of old ideas re-hashed for a modern audience, or the fundamentalist movements.  Of course, many of these forms of worship are far distant in ideology and practice but one thing that they have in common is the fact that they are old and that seems to give them more validity in and of itself.

I too have been enchanted with old things.  I what to know the way that things were in the beginning – the way that God intended them to be.  And yet, I have wondered if in some areas we have not been deceived by the idea that because a thing is old, it must somehow hold more value than it actually holds.  I have especially seen this in the health food industry.  I have seen many people convinced that a certain plant would cure everything from tumors to arthritis to hang nails because some ancient civilization ate that plant and since we still find the plant in nature today, it must have been saved by the providence of God to cure our cancer, mend our hang nails, fix our marriages, solve all of our financial problems and make us happy in every way imaginable.  I have wondered what would have happened if apples had gone out of style 1000 years ago and were recently re-"discovered" by some young entrepreneur – now that would be a product you could get behind and tell your friends about.  Most of us know deep down that the solution is more holistic than that but we also seem to feel that there is something from which we have strayed which is causing all of our problems and if we could only figure out what it was, we could get back on track and the rest would straighten itself out.

From the above you might believe that I don't put stock in ancient wisdom but I do.  The longer I live, the more I realize that we have strayed from the Truth in so many ways and I long for that which is timeless.  I believe that there are certain principles by which the Earth and everything on it are governed and when we adhere to those principles we are blessed and when we stray from those principles, we suffer.  The wisdom of the ancients is not only old but it is eternal and always new.  It is the wellspring of life.  I hope to return to old things but not just a few old things – I desire to return to everything that is permanently, eternally good.  That doesn't mean that I intend to forsake every modern convenience, but it does mean that I desire to let go of everything that is not permanent and cleave to everything that is eternal. 

In any case, these have been some of my thoughts of late.  If you have any comments or thoughts on the subject please share them with us.