I’m very pleased that my incredibly long journey into the world of values and virtues is now complete! I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours researching, planning, writing, rewriting, editing, and publishing my new book about wisdom! What a relief. I really am happy with the results.
Gosh, I must have read hundreds of books about wisdom over the years—with the term loosely defined, since books that delve into the interesting, elusive topic of wisdom are actually rather rare! At any rate, my reading and thinking has been pretty consistent as of late, and I am so pleased in the end result!
Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought 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.”
- 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”?
These were some of the questions that interested (challenged; vexed) me for a good 12 months as I was penning this work.
Philos sophia is Greek for “the love of wisdom,” in fact, and is the precursor of modern philosophy and much of applied psychology. I have enjoyed philosophy and psychology since I was 18 and took my first philosophy class at Cypress College! It has been an interesting road—I have been a therapist, a restauranteur, a real estate investor, and even tried making the enterprise I call “Values of the Wise” flourish in 2004-2007. Spoiler alert: I stopped being a therapist, lost my restaurant in the Great Recession, and only had so much steam for Values of the Wise (but not before I created three books, 500+ blogs about values, virtues and ethics, and interviewed 165 experts on all manner of subject (some of whom had also written books about wisdom!).
What has stuck with me the whole time has been an abiding interest in the power of wisdom to help people make sense of a very challenging—often brutal and deeply disappointing—world. Secular wisdom has been my thing, and I have really appreciated concepts like Stoicism, existentialism, ethics, personal growth, and critical thinking. All these and more are featured in the new book about wisdom.
HERE one can find the book on Amazon.com, and here it is on this very website
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.
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.
Here is what two individuals who appreciated this book about wisdom and personal growth had to say recently:
Ancient wisdom is making a comeback—Stoicism in particular has recently undergone a revival. Merchey not only reminds us of the timeless wisdom of the past, but he’s also assembled an impressive array of modern sources, applying the accumulated lessons of the ages as well as his own experience to a 21st century in crisis. This is a book for anyone interested in philosophy, intellectual growth, and practical solutions for moving forward in life.
—Vincent Czyz, Author of The Christos Mosaic and The Secret Adventures of Order
Jason Merchey has given us a multi-faceted examination of the quality of the mind we call wisdom. Each chapter invites us to explore wisdom from a different perspective. Several chapters focus on the characteristics of people we might agree possess wisdom, such as humility, open-mindedness, and skepticism. In other chapters, Jason considers mental processes that might contribute to wisdom. I have been thinking about the ways that intuitive thinking might lead to errors so I was pleased to see that Jason brings together the perspectives of philosophers and scientists to define intuition and reflect on ways that intuition might facilitate or disrupt wise conclusions.
Those perspectives are well chosen and stimulating. But what I enjoy most in every chapter is Jason’s perspective. He is able to provide fresh insight and relate our topic to current events and real world applications. The reader gets to enjoy the words of those wise philosophers, scientists, and educators and also gets to know Jason with his interpretative commentary and insights. It is a good read.
—Paul C. Cozby, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychology at California State University Fullerton; co-author of Methods in Behavioral Research; former Executive Officer of the Western Psychological Association
Get your copy of this impactful book about wisdom for $10 (Kindle) or $15 here!
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, Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought (2022). 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.
