What is Crazy Wisdom?

 

The crazy thing about Crazy Wisdom is that it cannot be defined; if it could, it wouldn’t be crazy anymore!

Some purists would have you believe this is an old Buddhist school of thought, but then so too would supporters of the holy jester in the Western tradition.

To each his own.

My own approach has been heavily influenced by all sorts of people, experiences and writings but none more so than Tom Robbins who, of course, is entirely unaware thereof.

Robbins describes Crazy Wisdom as follows:

Crazy wisdom is, of course, the opposite of conventional wisdom.

It is

· wisdom that deliberately swims against the current order to avoid being swept along in the numbing wake of bourgeois compromise;

 

· wisdom that flouts taboos in order to undermine their power;

 

· wisdom that evolves when one, while refusing to avert one's gaze from the sorrows and injustices of the world, insists on joy in spite of everything;

 

· wisdom that embraces risk and eschews security;

 

· wisdom that turns the tables on neurosis by lampooning it;

 

· the wisdom of those who neither seek authority nor willingly submit to it.

 

 Tom Robbins, "In Defiance of Gravity", Harper's Magazine, Sept. 2004

 

We could do worse than adopt Tom Robbins’ Credo for a New World:

The world is a wonderfully weird place, consensual reality is significantly flawed, no institution can be trusted, certainty is a mirage, security a delusion, and the tyranny of the dull mind forever threatens -- but our lives are not as limited as we think they are, all things are possible, laughter is holier than piety, freedom is sweeter than fame, and in the end it's love and love alone that really matters.

Responsibility for what I write is my own alone but thanks to everyone on whose shoulders I’m blessed to be able to stand; the universe knows who you are.