TOWARD WISDOM

for Copthorne Macdonald

       The greatest quest of all is to grow wise,
       collectively and individually,
       for we have yet to fully realize
       our sapient potentiality.
       What must we then outgrow and leave behind
       as modes of our collective ignorance,
       as signs of our still undeveloped mind,
       for us to make that marvelous advance?
       It must be this: the thought that I’m above
       another—with higher rights or keener needs;
       the rule must be instead that only love
       obtains, compassion, as in all the creeds
       that throughout history have won acclaim
       because they’ve recognized our highest aim.

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