🌌 The Only Fool Who Doesn’t Become Wise Is the One Who Isn’t Foolish Enough


Hey Friend!

Happy Wednesday and welcome to another Wake Up Wednesday!


The Only Fool Who Doesn’t Become Wise Is the One Who Isn’t Foolish Enough 🤡

If you want to read this article in a browser, click here: The Only Fool Who Doesn’t Become Wise Is the One Who Isn’t Foolish Enough
“The fool who persists in his folly will become wise.” — William Blake

You’ve heard this one.

Whether you understood it or not, you know it sounds wise.

Perhaps Mr. Blake here has followed his own advice and has become a wise fool.

But what does it mean to be a fool?

You probably know a good handful of fools and they don’t seem like they’ll sing songs of wisdom anytime soon.

What gives?

Well, the hallmark of the fool who becomes wise is that her folly is absolute.

She's not a fool by default.

She discovered she was a fool by a painful process of self-confrontation. And it’s not that this self-confrontation made her wise either.

It only further affirmed her foolishness.

You might think you can aim to see yourself as the fool you are in order to become wise. This kind of thinking will keep you a fool.

The fool who becomes wise is the fool who doesn’t hold anything back.

She recognizes her secret wish for wisdom as yet another piece of foolishness. In other words, as long as she thinks she knows something she isn’t foolish enough.

You might think you need to empty that cup of yours so that it can be filled with wisdom.

That's a perfectly foolish thing to think. Good job! You’re well on your way.

Wisdom isn’t knowledge. Wisdom isn’t something to be obtained.

You don’t need an empty cup. What do you need a small measly cup for? Discard it.

Throw the baby out with the bathwater and the tub right with it.

Wisdom moves in when there is empty space. But it doesn’t stay.

It doesn’t stay because it’s not something.

It’s like air flowing through a flute — it is never the same air passing through.

It’s not a piece of advice you can repeat for anyone who cares to listen.

Wisdom can come in the form of advice; it can come in the form of silence; it can come in the form of a slap to the face.

It is an energy that moves through the one who doesn’t hold on to anything, to the one who has found certainty in uncertainty, to the one who has recognized her emptiness, to the one who faces life nakedly.

How can wisdom use you if you insist on your knowledge, if you know what’s right in theory, if life is a matter of preparation instead of spontaneity?

How can you know life if you keep fortifying the wall between you and it?

The fool who persists in her folly will see it all dissolve. The judgments fall away, the walls crumble, the clothes come off.

The ideas, beliefs, facts, and stories will reveal themselves as free from substance.

Everything will be apparent as nothing at all.

The fool will perceive it all as if for the first time.

She will listen to the wind howling and hear one hand clapping.

She will look at you and see only herself.

The fool will know nothing at all and have obtained perfect wisdom.


Create Something Ugly 👹

I realized something.

Everyone who creates wants to create something beautiful. To do that they look into the marketplace to see what's considered beautiful. And then they start imitating.

They might even get good at imitating and actually create something beautiful. And yet, it's nothing special. It's nothing special because it's the same old.

Beauty is always based on what is considered beautiful at that time. 150 years ago Van Gogh's art was considered ugly, horrendous, despicable. Now he's one of the most celebrated artists of all time.

He had something that many of his contemporaries, despite their success, didn't have ― style.

If you're an artist, writer, creator of any kind you want to have your own style. To have your own style, dare to create something horribly ugly. Make something atrocious. Get over yourself.

Then look at your ugly creation every day and soon, you will find something.

You will find that which never depended on skill or practice or perfection. You will find that which was always with you.


Quote 📜

"Twice two makes four is a pert coxcomb who stands who stands with arms akimbo barring your path and spitting. I admit that twice two makes four is an excellent thing, but if we are to give everything its due, twice two makes five is sometimes a very charming thing too." ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from the Underground


Endnote 🎬

​I hope you enjoyed this issue of the Wake Up Wednesday. Feel free to reply and tell me what you think.

​Want to help spread the word?

Here is one quick way you can do that:

Forward this email to one friend.

That's it. It will take 5 seconds and will help me reach more people like you. I appreciate you. 🤍

Did a friend forward you this email, and you liked it? Then you can sign up here: Wake Up!

Much Love,

Luka


PS If you enjoy reading the Wake Up Wednesday and want to support my work through a donation. You can do so by clicking on the button below. 💙

Books by Luka 📚

Luka Bönisch

Illustrated essays and stories about spiritual awakening and the art of living. Check out the resources I offer below and sign up for my newsletter!

Read more from Luka Bönisch

Hey Friend! Happy Wednesday and welcome to another Wake Up Wednesday! Feeding Your Creative Demon, the Simple Way 👹 If you want to read this article in a browser, click here: Feeding Your Creative Demon, the Simple Way If there were a meaning to life (there isn’t) then it would be to create. I use the word create here in the broadest way. As broad as your field of vision — immeasurably broad. So when I say create I don’t mean you need to create something “material” as in a statue or a book or...

Hey Friend! Happy Wednesday and welcome to another Wake Up Wednesday!In case you've missed the good news, I published a book about our true nature. (Fear not, it's not too late.) Click here to get it on Amazon, or Click here to get it directly from meOkay, enough promotion. Let's see what I have to say today. Life Is Never About Improving Yourself, Only About Accepting Yourself 🤍 For a long time, I unknowingly believed that the goal was to fix all the aspects of myself I deemed less than...

Hey Friend! Happy Wednesday and welcome to another Wake Up Wednesday! You Don't Have Free Will, You Are Free Will 🕊️ If you want to read this article in a browser, click here: You Don't Have Free Will, You Are Free Will The question of whether we have free will or not is usually considered one of the biggies. But anyone who spends some time thinking about this will realize that it’s actually not that mysterious. I’m not sure if there is still debate about this. Most likely there is. If we’d...