Lawyers declared yesterday as a Black Friday but it was more like a Good Friday for Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. We know what followed after Good Friday and those who still cherish democracy, freedom, good governance and social justice hope the calamity of today’s steamroller vote will be turned into a blessing.

Most rulers operate with worldly wisdom which is essentially self-centred and therefore fundamentally flawed if not self-destructive. This desire to maintain our power and prestige lies buried deep within us. We don’t like others taking any part of what we posses or enjoy. We are even misguided into believing that we know more than the other, or that we are of greater value than others. Our ego then is the bane of not only the decadent society that evolves through us, but also the flashpoint of our own self-destruction.

There is however a wisdom that transcends worldly wisdom. That wisdom is super-natural and is found in all religions. Rulers, from time immemorial, have been seeking it, but have been unable to touch its depth. The foregoing of one’s own concepts or attitudes becomes like darkness to one’s intellect. This is the path one takes to encounter that wisdom. That path would be like night to the senses, intellect and will. This becomes so, as one is called  upon to give different responses and change concepts. It’s night, because we fear the painful and fearful result that could occur, in giving a contrary and different response to what the world usually gives.

It is said he who loses his life or his will gain lasting peace. In this way wisdom takes over. It’s about deciding to allow the other to enjoy winning an argument. The result is an inner freedom one could have. Then again if one gives a slap on one cheek give him or her the other. This may seem preposterous in terms of worldly wisdom. Only the strong could give the other cheek. One who seeks higher wisdom would be able to. When the higher wisdom is sought by kings and rulers, peace reigns supreme in such. That peace then flows into the hearts and minds of the people. As the great sages have discovered, the great rulers who have made cultivations strong and secure were those who sought this wisdom.

True leaders and rulers who have made wisdom their consort are easily recognisable. They are humble enough to listen to others. They look at the other as someone who could teach them something they don’t know; a willingness to learn even having the freedom to allow those who disturb them to do so. They become aware of their own growth and perfection through every disturbance. Another attribute is their reaching out to love and trust the difficult, a willingness to be vulnerable, to being hurt over and over again, yet continuing to love and serve.