LECTURES.
Wisdom of the Ancients
BRSLI Proceedings (2006-2007) 10: 76-79 (2007)
Wisdom of the Ancients
Antiquity lecture convened & chaired by Lee Hooker
Dr Charles Stirton
Ouroboros Research & Education Trust 27 June 2006
Ancient wisdom is like a mysterious, closed door.
Anyone can open it, but only a few will. It is ancient
because it has always been there and leads to simple
truths. What we see, hear and experience is what we
are prepared for. The fact that you have come here
tonight means you are a discoverer, a seeker, an
explorer, or just plain curious. The phrase ancient
wisdom evokes mystery. Over the centuries it has been
captured into numerous schemes by our ancestors to
help them make sense of themselves, their origin, their
destiny, and their universe.
Diahann Hughes and I will open the door and share
with you a few of the treasures and wonders we have
experienced in our own search for ancient wisdom - a
little bit about our personal journeys and why we think
the study of wisdom and ancient wisdom is so relevant
to today and why we have created the Ouroboros Trust
to help, promote a better appreciation of ancient
wisdom. This report covers my half of the talk. We
hope by the end that you will leave with more
questions than you came with.
How would you define wisdom? Who would you
consider wise? Why? Is ancient wisdom different from
modern notions of wisdom?
Let us begin by contrasting and reflecting on two
very different worlds: the city of Bath and an Egyptian
desert environment out of which so much human
creativity has emerged. The desert scenes are filled
with various icons and symbols that at first glance
seem to represent an immensely different world
compared to Bath. Of course, we could have selected
any number of other places around the globe for
comparison.
Bath is a place with which we are more familiar and
so different from the desert. Yet behind the differences
and traditions lie the same universal principles and
basic human qualities that link us all today and back
through to the past even if we do not recognise them
anymore. All of us have superstitions of some sort or
another and feel compelled to act them out even if we
do not know why. Consider just three that many
people in Bath practice regularly; they rarely walk
under ladders, they feel compelled to throw coins into
any water container, and they touch wood whenever
they make a future observation. How many realise that
these refer to an inherited fear of the Hangman's
ladder, and a need to placate the spirits in water and
trees?
Much of our knowledge about the past and ancient
wisdom comes from ancient books and manuscripts
scattered across the world, from engraved objects and
materials, or survive as living oral transmissions. Most
historical approaches to the study of ancient wisdom
tend to focus on ancient literature to discover
traditional meaning. They do not always separate
propaganda from reality and often misinterpret or de--
contextualize ancient wisdom in their translations.
There is also a largely ignored esoteric knowledge
embedded in art, architecture, sacred geometry, music
and philosophical contexts.
Defining wisdom
Before we try to approach ancient wisdom we need to
develop a definition of wisdom generally and ask a
few more detailed questions about it. Do different
peoples and cultures perceive wisdom in the same
way? Is it a singular unified concept? Has the
interpretation of wisdom changed over time? What do
contemporary studies of wisdom say about wisdom in
our own age?
The word wisdom is derived from Wīs (wise) +
dōm, dom, about 900, Middle English, fr. Old English
Wīsdom. Here are three quite different definitions of
wisdom that relate to mythos, Theos, and logos
respectively. * Wisdom is the teachings of the ancient
wise men relating to the art of living and sometimes
philosophical problems concerning the universe, and
or God, and forming a class of literature. * Wisdom is
the effectual mediating principle or personification of
God's will in the creation of the world. * Wisdom is
the ability to discern inner qualities and essential
relationships.
We could also define wisdom academically or non-
academically, by asking each other what we
understand wisdom to be. For comprehensive studies
on the history of wisdom see Birren & Svensson
(2005) and Trowbridge (2006).
We will look first at academic approaches to the
study of wisdom. I have chosen three definitions from
Sternberg and Jordan (2005) to give a flavour. *
Wisdom is a holistic cognitive process, a virtue or
compelling guide for action, and, a good, desirable
state of being. (Czikzentmihalyi & Rathunde). *
Wisdom is the expertise in, the domain of fundamental
life pragmatics (Baltes & Smith). * Wisdom is a
smooth and balanced dialogue between two sets of
attributes: outer, objective, logical forms of processing
(logos) and inner, subjective organismic forces
(mythos) (Labouvie-Vief). criteria of control, replication and prediction. Most
The first thing we discover is that there is little early social-psychological empirical studies avoided
consensus about what wisdom is. For example, there complex topics 'like ageing, love, creativity, and
are over 20 academic definitions provided by wisdom, which was for a very- long time embedded in
psychologists and social scientists alone. They reflect philosophy and religion. * Wisdom is defined
the different world views adopted by each academic's differently across populations, gender, age and
approach to wisdom. All contain a bit of the truth but occupational groups. * Research seems to show that
like the blind men and the elephant they do not quite wisdom is the capstone of behavioural complexity. It
complete the whole. Academics tend to divide wisdom leads to explanations of behaviour from the top down,
theories into implicit and explicit theories. from purpose and intention to behavioural acts.
What are the implications? If modern humans have
1. Implicit wisdom theories (what we all think) are
such a diverse approach to wisdom then we will differ
evoked when people are asked what they think
in our interpretations about ancient wisdom or maybe
wisdom is. These are the filters through which people
even as to what might be included in its study.
view and judge cultures, individuals and themselves.
We carry these models in our heads. 2. Explicit
Western and eastern wisdom traditions
wisdom theories are theories deduced from
Each tradition has a long period of development.
experimental research. People's implicit theories of
The western intellectual tradition overall tends
wisdom tend to correspond to an ideal self, which
towards precise definitions of any concept whereas
varies in different cultures.
eastern traditions keep definitions as vague as
possible. They often leave the precise meaning of a
There are very few comparative modern studies of
concept open so it will enhance the potential flexibility
wisdom as seen by different peoples and cultures.
of its interpretation. Western traditions offer a detailed
Only six psychological and social science studies have
description of the psychological nature of wisdom.
been made on the historical roots of wisdom in east
However, its focus is relatively narrow. Wisdom is
and west, philosophers and theologians have been
limited to mainly cognitive features such as having an
studying these things for generations [see table below].
extensive knowledge database and an ability to use it.
The eastern wisdom tradition has a more diffuse
Recent studies on definitions of Wisdom
approach to its past. It emphasises the transformative
GROUP RESEARCHE
and integrative processes of the whole of wisdom. So
FINDINGS it embraces a practical knowledge with an approach
STUDIED RS
1. Hispanic that has a sense of the whole rather than a sum of the
Valdez 1994 Spiritual & interpersonal.
Americans parts.
Cognitive scored Iow. If we were to simplify the two extremes we could
2. Tibetan
Levitt 1999 Religious. say that the West emphasises analytical cognitive
Buddhist
monks skills, whereas the east emphasises social
3. Japanese Takayama
Practical and experience based competence. Chinese people define wisdom less
men and 2002 spiritually and less religiously than Hispanic
women (19-80) competence linked to reasoning
ability and general intelligence-
Americans and Tibetan Buddhist monks but more
4. Taiwanese pragmatically so daily life brings harmony to society
Yang 2001 Competencies, knowledge,
Chinese as whole. Modesty and unobtrusiveness may be
benevolence, openness, wisdom characteristics unique to Chinese originated
profundity & unobtrusiveness.
Daily life pragmatism to bring
culture.
harmony to society as a whole. With this as background we can now approach
5. American, Australian and Americans ancient wisdom and explore a few examples.
Takahashi &
Australian, scored
Japanese, &
Indian
Bordia 2000 knowledgeable and wise. Ancient wisdom studies
Japanese and Indians scored The best explanation of ancient wisdom that I have
discreet, aged, & experienced. found is by Paul Devereux (2002). He explains it as
follows:
Summary of recent studies on wisdom
(extracted from Sternberg & Jordan (2005) ‘When we visit the sacred mountains
and temples of antiquity, or learn of
We can draw a number of conclusions from the data: the rituals and religious beliefs of
* Wisdom is a multidimensional construct. It is ancient and traditional peoples, we
understood differently by different groups. * There are are peering down into the deep well of
only a few modern empirical studies of Wisdom, the human mind and soul. We are
because, as we have seen, the concept is difficult to encountering the remnants of the
define and it is hard to meet the scientific research world-views and spiritual or
 psychological insights of our
ancestors. These ruins and remnants
are sometimes referred to as an
"ancient wisdom" or "lost knowledge".
What we seek to access are the
principles that underpinned some of
the themes of ancient wisdom, and to
readapt them for our own time and
situation. Principles are perennial -
they do not age’.
Geoffrey Farthing has described it as the: ‘Wisdom of
understanding and compassion, of which all of us feel
in need of in the depths of our being. To be wise we
have to learn to apply the principles of Ancient
Wisdom to the detailed circumstances of our lives. In
this wisdom we sense our own strength, our own self-
sufficiency. It gives us hope and the courage and
determination to face life.’
Manly Hall (1928) suggests we can we can live two
types of life. In the Unheeded life we struggle from
womb to tomb - a span measured by our own creation
- time. The other life derives from the notion that we
are not the insignificant creature we appear to be. It is
the Philosophic life from realization to infinity. It
begins with understanding, endures forever, and it is
consummated on the plane of eternity. He notes that
throughout the ages the mysteries have stood at the
threshold of reality - the space between substance and
shadow. These gates stand open for those who will
pass into the spacious domicile of the spirit. In the
mystic the gate is the heart and through
spiritualization of one's emotions one contacts the
elevated plane which, once sensed, becomes the sum
of the worth-while. For the philosopher, reason is the
gate between the outer and the inner worlds, the
illumined mind bridging the chasm between the
corporeal and the incorporeal. Thus Godhead is born
within the one who sees, and from the concerns of
humanity one rises to the concerns of the Gods.
Gregory Bateson reminds us that our perceived
modern reality is not the only reality. .
We can still be enriched by the insights, knowledge
and cognitive tools developed by our ancestors. We
can get glimpses of others ways of seeing ourselves
and our environment. And here is one of the major
reasons for studying ancient wisdom traditions. It can
help us reconnect, synthesize and integrate our
knowledge.
Composite wisdom diagrams
I have always been fascinated how our ancestors tried
to integrate all knowledge into composite diagrams, of
which I mention just three:
* The Mesoamerican Fejervary-Mayer Codex. This
diagram is a symbolic representation of how the
universe, space, time, and the realms of heaven and
earth are integrated into one whole. Priests used to
read the codices to foretell the future, linking the
spiritual and material planes of existence. The sacred
calendar of 260 days, known as Tonalpohualli,
structured the time-space continuum. Like religious
calendars from other cultures, the sacred calendars in
these codices codified knowledge of the cycles of
nature into a system that gave order and meaning to
existence, with beginnings and endings, direction and
goals. The material world was also structured by the
four directions (north, south, east, and west), as well as
by concepts of inner-outer and above-below. There
was an overall theme of tension or balance between
opposite or competing forces.
* Mandalas. Mandalas are used for complex
visualization practices during empowerments and
inner journeys. They also form ground plan designs for
Buddhist architecture.
* Sephiroth or Kabbahlic Tree of Life. The Judaic
Sephiroth tree is a multi-layered symbol. It represents
the plan of creation of all upper and lower things and
is a path to wisdom.
There are numerous such diagrams from many
different literate cultures. However, much work still
needs to be done on diagrammatizing the oral cultures.
A good example is the myth chart created by the
anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss.
Unearthing ancient wisdom
There are so many topics that encompass ancient
wisdom that any overview discussion on it could end
up being superficial. I have chosen therefore just one
aspect of my own interests to share with you - the
night sky.
Some things such as the night sky are enduring.
Celestial bodies - the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars -
have provided a reference for measuring the passage
of time throughout human existence. Ancient
civilizations relied upon the apparent motion of these
bodies through the" sky to determine seasons, months,
and years. Jean Fernel (1538) explained it well.
'Contemplation of the stars and heavenly bodies
excites such a wonder and charm in the human mind
that once fascinated by it, we are caught in the toils of
an enduring and delighted slavery, which holds us in
bondage.'
As a child growing up in the vast open spaces of
Africa's dark night skies I was fascinated by the night
sky. I was gripped by how it was interpreted or
represented by different people living in my country.
The Khoi San Bushmen, for example, view the stars as
the campfires of their departed ancestors, whereas the
Zulu depict the red dawn and dusk as a re-enactment
of the bloody battles between the great black and white
bulls of night and day as they fight for mastery of their
domain. It is only now, far removed from my
childhood and from Africa, that I realize how much I
knew about the southern skies compared to the
northern ones. Although the northern sky is less
familiar to me it is the southern hemisphere that is my
axis mundi. It is only recently that I have learned how
little I knew even of the night skies of Africa and how
early Africans interpreted them.
In this room we share a sense of the grandeur of the
monumental megalithic sites of Stonehenge in Britain
and Carnac in France and stand in awe of the ingenuity
of these structures and what they may represent, but it
is in Africa at five sites virtually unknown here that I
have a deeper sense of connection. As Diahann
Hughes will talk more about Stonehenge and modern
work being done on megalithic sites and sacred
geometry, I will not cover these aspects.
Rather I would like to turn your gaze to Africa to a
megalithic site at Nabta Playa in Egypt which is 2000
years older than Stonehenge. There are five known
alignments of megaliths that stretch out from a group
of central megalithic structures at the settlement at
Nabta Playa in Egypt. The lines very closely match the
direction of sunrise on the summer solstice, as well as
the rising points of Sirius, Dubhe, and Orion's Belt.
There are 25 stone alignments with seven positions in
the sky. The huge stones are typically 1.5 to 2 metres
high, but some are up to 5 metres tall and weigh 4
tons. We are still at the beginning of understanding the
significance of these finds and much archaeological
work remains.
There are other rarely studied megalithic sites in
Africa that are little known in the west. These include
megaliths at Namoratunga, Borana, Senegambia, and
Bouar.
Another fascinating African puzzle is the ruin
known as Great Zimbabwe. As a student I camped in
these ruins for three nights in the late 1960's. It is an
extraordinary set of ruins with very unusual stonework
for Sub-Saharan Africa. It is still not clear who built it,
or what its purpose was. Many scholars still find it
hard to believe that Africans could have built it or that
it could have been a celestial observatory. Yet if one
looks at the placement of the Zimbabwean stone birds
(no longer there), that were mounted on metre long
poles, one has a parallel with Yezidi bird totems called
sanjaks and other northern hemisphere sky-bird
mythologies that relate to Cygnus and other stellar
observatories.
I have shown you these different megalithic and later
astronomical sites from around Africa primarily
because they are so little known and virtually
unstudied. They are also a reminder to those of us who
are interested in ancient wisdom to take a worldwide
view of the past whenever we can to search for the
universal principles that underlie our ancestor's
attempts to understand and master time and space.
I also mentioned these African sites, because the
ancient peoples of Sub-Saharan Africa left so little
monumental architecture behind. It is easy to forget or
ignore Africa's wisdom as Africans focused much of
their cosmology and wisdom within the oral tradition
which is only now belatedly being recognised to be as
rich and deep as anything else from around the world.
I end my brief look at the night skies and its
measurement to describe the puzzling and fascinating
stone spheres of Costa Rica. The spheres are found on
the Diquis River delta, near the Pacific coast of
southern Costa Rica. Their sizes range from an inch to
8 feet in diameter. Over 186 spheres have been
recorded in the literature but many more have been
destroyed and others remain undiscovered.
No local source exists for the granite; and no stone-
working tools have been found near the spheres. The
best spheres are perhaps the finest examples of
precision stone carving in the ancient world. The
maximum circumference error in a 6ft 7in diameter
sphere is only 0.5 inch, or 0.2%. The spheres are often
grouped, but no general system or alignment mode
seems to exist. Who manufactured them and for what
purpose? One theory is that they accurately represent
the planets of the night sky millennia ago.
Scope of ancient wisdom studies
The breadth and scope of ancient wisdom studies is
very wide. I have touched very briefly on only one
aspect. This brings me to one of the most challenging
aspects of ancient wisdom studies. Firstly, the field is
very broad, as we have already seen just in the
problems of defining wisdom itself. It embraces so
many aspects of human endeavour. What sets it apart
is its synthesising, connecting and integrating ability.
Many of the exciting key discoveries in the field are
being made by independent academic researchers
outside the mainstream of scholarship. Their work
ranges from the sometimes incredible to the
scientifically accurate and rigorous. They usually work
outside the purview of fashionable research areas.
They challenge prevailing accepted wisdom about so
many topics: the age of human civilization; lost
flooded civilizations; the intelligence of our
Palaeolithic and Neolithic ancestors; and the timing,
extent and scale of worldwide trade and navigation.
They are a difficult challenge to many prevailing
worldviews. In the Ouroboros Trust we believe that
independent researchers have much to offer. However,
most of these researchers are poorly financed. Our aim
is to be a synthesising force and to build bridges
between academia and the independent research sector
across all disciplines that link to ancient wisdom and
applying rigorous standards of scholarship, referencing
and scientific analysis as appropriate.
But time is not on our side. One of the greatest
challenges facing ancient wisdom studies is that there
is a huge loss of antiquities, structures and sites around
the world. Roger Atwood in his book Stealing history-
tomb raiders, smugglers, & the looting of the ancient
world writes:
‘The biggest obstacle to stopping the looting of the
ancient world is overcoming the feeling that it is
inevitable. That as long as there are rich buyers, there
will always be poor looters willing to supply them. The
day is not far off, he warns, when an 'archaeologist
can go an entire career without seeing a single un-
pillaged site’.

Consider a single example. During the 1991 Gulf War,

looters broke into nine of Iraq's regional museums,
stealing more than 4,000 objects from statues to clay
tablets and pottery. Less than a handful of those
artefacts have been recovered.
I began my part of this talk by introducing the
complexity of defining wisdom, went on to hint at the
breadth of the topic of ancient wisdom studies, and
finally briefly mentioned some of the problems
associated with it. In conclusion, the time for wisdom
studies generally has come. We believe that ancient
wisdom has much to offer modern societies.

Further reading
M P Hall. The Secret Teachings of all Ages (NY, Tarcher, Penguin, 1928). J E
Birren & C M Svensson. 'Cultural foundations of wisdom: an
integrated developmental approach.' R J Sternberg & J Jordan. A
Handbook of Wisdom (CUP, 2005).
P Devereux. Living Ancient Wisdom: understanding & using its principles today.
(London, Rider, 2002).
R J Sternberg & J Jordan. A Handbook of Wisdom: psychological
perspectives (CUP, 2005).
RH Trowbridge. Wisdom as Skill: forming & living by a wisdom perspective
(Rochester, Richard Trowbridge. 2006).