Non recipit stultus verba prudentiae.
(Anonymous)

The fool does not accept the words of the wisdom.

pron = nohn ray-KAY-pit STOOL-toos WHER-bah proo-DEHN-tee-ah.

Comment: A proverb like this can lull us into a dangerously simple mind.
We can read this and silently conclude: "fine, now, only to
decide who the fools are and who the wise are, and everything will be
perfect." I am inclined at this point in my life to understand this
approach as disastrous. It is the separation that creates so much
suffering in our culture.

Consider another approach where the fool and the wise belong together,
where to have the one requires the other, where to be the one is to be
the other. This is a very fluid approach, a constantly changing
approach, and one that can open the door to wisdom for
everyone--everyone who is fool enough to accept it, that is.

Wisdom can be that difficult truth that the fool does not wish to hear
or accept. We call such a fool "denial" and "ignorance" and
"stupidity", and I have been them all. I may be again, tomorrow. In
such circumstances, I need wisdom to confront me and make me feel my
resistance so that I can hear the truth.

Wisdom can also be that status quo position, that conventional wisdom,
that incontrovertable doctrine, that "fact everyone accepts" and that
only fools question. We may find ourselves asking difficult
questions, making fun, protesting, marching with signs and stepping
out of the faceless crowd to raise a voice or simply take a stand. In
that case, so called wisdom needs the fool to make truth visible. I
have been that kind of fool before, and I may be again.

You see, when we see that foolishness and wisdom are always linked,
are really necessary, one for the other, we can see them both in
ourselves, always. When we view them as utterly separate, we grow
pale and quiet and hope that no one points a finger at us--before we
can point one at them.