I’m Jason Merchey, the founder of this website. I blog a bit, and I have a number of tools that I believe can lead to personal growth, and which shed light on subjects such as applied philosophy (and especially ethics, and values) as well as applied psychology (and especially humanistic psychology).
There are many other free tools here on the site, and I don’t do ads or pop-up solicitations.
So I try to bring a lot of value to the study of values, if you will.
I also write books about wisdom, values & virtues. In March 2022, I put out one of these books about wisdom and not surprisingly it’s titled … (drum roll) WISDOM.
To be exact, it is called Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought
The two places one can read more about it are here on this site, and also on Amazon.
There are three other books about wisdom, and those can be read about here, or as well on Amazon.
I’d like to tell you about Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought. This baby took hundreds of hours to research, plan, pre-write, write, rewrite, rewrite, publish, and now I’m doing the promotion. It has really been a labor of love (but I admit I do enjoy thinking about and communicating about values, virtues, ethics, wisdom, etc.). I “left it all on the field” with this book!
The book is a fascinating research-based yet personal take on that place where philosophy, psychology, well-being, personal growth, spirituality, politics, and American culture come together.
It is 389 pages, boasts an attractively-designed soft cover and cream colored pages, and is quite unique. It communicates:
“This is what wisdom is; here is how it is useful for me; within is inspiration for how it can be useful for you—and the United States as an ailing society.”
So unpacking that a bit… Wisdom is ideally a secular phenomenon, meaning that it cannot be gained or understood if it comes from a source known as “revealed.” Revealed wisdom is essentially when a writer who fancies themselves a prophet or a religious leader passes off opinion (or pseudo facts) as fact. Until I know that God exists, and all about him/her/it, I don’t think it is appropriate (I dare say, wise…) to believe that a person is in touch with a bona fide god. This is just a philosophical axiom. Yet many billions believe, fight for, die for, argue about, claim, cajole, wheedle, manipulate, and pretend that these words are “holy” and “sacrosanct” because they are in a particular book that was, allegedly, inspired by God.
We need a source for secular wisdom—a humanistic approach, a philosophical approach—if we are to have any confidence (I did not say faith) in the veracity and the truth of the claims.
Now, quotations about wisdom do compel, inspire, and “ring true”—that is how the emotional brain works, after all. I believe one should give no more credence to a quote that came from a secular source than a religious/theological/mystical one. Indeed, a human being who studies a subject and confers with others and publishes their beliefs and claims is about the best source for legitimate wisdom there is.
Now, there are many books about wisdom out there, and one really ought to choose wisely (hehe).
I would love to share a bit about what makes this book unique. Further, there is so much information freely available online (especially Amazon) that one can be pretty sure what they are going to find when they choose one. Price is one concern, but a good book can range in price from 99 cents to $30, so let’s leave that aside for now.
Below are some of the THEMES & SUB-TOPICS, GOALS, and BENEFITS to the book Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought:
- Compassion & empathy
- Personal growth & development
- Humility & modesty
- Intuition & insight
- Secularism & Humanism
- Emotional development
- Mental health & functioning
- Applied philosophy
- Ethics & morality
- Academic & clinical psychology
- Stoicism & existentialism
- Values, virtues & principles
- Social criticism & political analysis
- Purpose & meaning in life
- Self-awareness & knowledge
- Open-mindedness & tolerance
- Integration & self-actualization
Goals
Learn about this useful virtue
Be mindful about wisdom in daily life
Develop more & deeper wisdom
Improve your critical thinking
Manifest more insight & vision
Benefits
- Greater levels of happiness
- Heightened psychological functioning
- More contentment & harmony
- Increased levels of success
- Improved relationships
- Greater calm & understanding
- Fewer recurring problems
- Deeper knowledge & enlightenment
I also get into politics, social issues, social commentary, and there are many personal stories in the book. Some readers and reviewers and endorsers have found the personal stories to be the most interesting and useful parts since a lot of books about wisdom can be a bit dry, academic, and philosophically complex.
Wisdom might not be able to be bought, but this book can help a dedicated and open-minded reader to make wisdom their greatest strength.
I will end with two descriptions of the book to really clarify how I blend philosophy, psychology and personal growth concepts to shed light on this somewhat undervalued, slightly complex virtue of unsurpassed beauty:
Can wisdom be understood, developed, and improved?
Does wisdom really underlie success, fulfillment, and happiness?
What are the characteristics and skills of wise individuals?
Can one be happier and more fulfilled by “loving wisdom”?
You can’t buy wisdom. You can’t borrow it. You can’t even steal it. Immensely valuable and desired, yet difficult to acquire, the journey to wisdom has few shortcuts. There are, however, few endeavors more fulfilling.
While no one can teach you how to be wise, this carefully researched book may help you grow to love the pursuit of it. Philos sophia is Greek for “the love of wisdom,” and is the precursor of modern philosophy and much of applied psychology. Wisdom can become one’s greatest strength—if they know enough about it, and care enough about making it so!
Four-time author Jason Merchey spent years researching, considering, writing, and rewriting a book he thinks can make an impact on individuals, and on society as a whole. As a long-time lover of wisdom, Jason Merchey brings a refreshing array of insightful and interesting quotations (and personal reflections) to this deep and wide investigation into the nature of wisdom. There is much in the book that can be helpful for people on a personal growth journey, but who want to avoid all the nonsense that comes along with many self-help books. This book is grounded in philosophy, psychology, Humanism, classical wisdom, and progressive principles.
(further description)
In 15 chapters, many aspects, hallmarks, and components of wisdom and wise ways of being are delved into. Well over fifteen-hundred quotations from an array of wisdom aspirants throughout history are brought to the fore. This makes the book one of the most diverse and broad books about wisdom on record.
Examples of chapters include: “Wisdom As Vision,” “Open-Mindedness and Mental Flexibility are Inherent to Wisdom,” and “Developing Greater Wisdom.”
Certainly values such as free will, kindness, strength, critical thinking, and tolerance are discussed. Many books about wisdom would only define the subject, but Jason’s approach is to pan wide and show all the ways in which wise people manifest this wonderful virtue (or skill, perhaps).
The optimal end result is a unique, probing, broad, and broad-minded look at what is clearly a somewhat complex, somewhat under-appreciated virtue.
There is also some incisive commentary on the state of politics, attitudes, values, ethics, and wisdom in modern America, as well.
Unique among books about wisdom, this one is for any open-minded reader who has an interest in self-improvement on an individual level, and in progressivism at a societal level. It tends to come across to a reader as secular, integrative, humanistic, humane, and philosophical/psychological in nature. Ω
