Sapere aude

When I was growing up, my dad had hanging on the wall a plaque that supposedly represented the coat of arms for our family name (I have my doubts). Along with the coat of arms was an description of the symbols on the coat of arms. This description also stated that the family motto was Sapere aude.

Dare to be wise.

Powerful words, aren't they?

The word dare implies that you have to step up and do something that is not usual. It takes courage and determination in the face of possible failure.

I don't like to fail. I have really high expectations of myself, and it really bothers me when I don't meet them. In those moments, I have to face the fact that I am human and make mistakes and I have a hard time forgiving myself for that. As a consequence, I sometimes choose to not attempt a given task at all rather than risk failure.

Wise, and its companion word wisdom, is also a difficult word. I am a reasonably intelligent woman, and in fact for a long time I believed that my intelligence was the only part of me that had any worth. Intelligence is not wisdom, however. Wisdom, to use a part of the definition from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, means "ability to discern inner qualities and relationships". Synonym: insight.

I like how the phrase challgenges me to take on the difficult task of seeing past the surface of things, to get to what is real. Real about myself, real about my relationships, real about what I want out of life.

I think I'm making a little progress...