Finding Wisdom: Learning From Those Who Are Wise

An insightful book on finding wisdom by learning from those who are wise. The author looks at wisdom through the lives of 19 wise individuals from 5 distinct cultures--Navajo, Japanese, Kenyan, Saami, and Western European. The philosophies of these men and women unfold through their life stories. Traveling the world to meet these extraordinary individuals taught the author that the wise have things in common, regardless of cultures. Learning how they live and what they think will help us find guidance for navigating difficult times. And, we learn to recognize the universal attributes of wisdom. The questions: "What is wisdom?' Who is wise? What makes them so? How does one seek wisdom? Can wisdom be taught? and What difference can wisdom make in contemporary society?

Merriam Bleyl is fascinated by the phenomenon of human wisdom. She spent the last fifteen years investigating wisdom and interviewing wise individuals in western and non-western cultures. During this time she earned a Ph.D. degree from The University of New Mexico in Organizational Learning and Instructional Technology in 2000. Her real interest is in the adult learner and in how humans acquire wisdom. She has an appreciation for the "wise ones" in all cultures. After receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in 1962, she embarked on a long hiatus from formal education, during which she married, mothered four children, taught piano and creativity workshops, and served as a community volunteer. With thirty years of life experiences and a passion for learning more about how adults function in the world, in 2001 she started her own educational research company, Wisdom in Life and Learning. She is an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, where she occasionally teaches a course on wisdom, She presented two papers and an experiential session at the 2004 and 2007 Transformational Learning Conferences, one of which, "Transformative Rungs on Wisdom's Ladder," was subsequently included as a chapter in Edmund O'Sullivan and Marilyn Taylor's, Learning Toward an Ecological Consciousness: Selected Transformative Practices, published in 2004 by Palgrave Macmillan. She served as a panelist at the Conference on World Affairs at The University of Colorado at Boulder in 2004. Dr. Bleyl lives with her husband in "God's country"-the mountain town of Star Valley, Arizona- amidst magnificent Ponderosa Pines, marauding javelinas, and occasional herds of visiting elk. The grandmother of twelve, she is also a musician-playing the piano, the organ, and directing choirs and musical plays. Music is her hobby; the topic of wisdom remains her passion.