Brief Reflections on Proverbs 18

At the suggestion of CD I listen to a lot I’ve been working to read one chapter of Proverbs a day corresponding to the day of the month (there are 31…on the last of the month I’ll read through 31).

Today is my first time through Proverbs chapter 18 and one passage jumped out at me above all others (New American Standard):

4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

We normally assign the idea of depth to deep thoughts to wisdom and babbling to the prattle of an airhead. Yet here the Bible uses a metaphor 180 degrees. Why?

My initial thought is deep waters drown us, separate us from life. Such is the prattle of the empty mind as well. Consider that ultimate symbol of airheaded prattle, television. Television doesn’t wash over us like a bubbling brook or carry us like a rushing stream (the translation of the last two words in the New International Version) but sucks hours and life away. Deep thoughts sound great but, as Tori Amos once asked us (in a song about finding our own voices at that), “What’s so amazing about really deep thoughts”. The Divinely Inspired writer of the Proverbs might ask us the same thing.

Meanwhile consider the bubbling brook. It does wash over us and in doing so cleanses and refreshes us. The bubbling brook brings joy and laugher when we dive into its waters. Is that not what wisdom should bring us? Is not the light of God meant to bring joy to us? The Psalms tell us to “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD”? Then his wisdom should be a source of joy and joyful noise not the silence of the depths. To take the other translation I cited, the rushing stream carries away debris from its shores and carries us forward in our journey. Again, is that not a be better metaphor for wisdom than sinking to the depths. When we apply wise council to our problems do they not appear to be something we can resolve instead of pulling us under. When we apply wise council to our choices does not our journey through life lead us to better places and our better selves?

I cannot help but be reminded both of the Taoists and of the final bull in 10 Bulls in Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

Wisdom should not be deep, silencing thoughts as too many of us have been taught. Instead, wisdom should refresh us and bring us joy. It should not silence us in depths but make us alive in the world.