Telluride Times, Thursday, December 11, 2025

“Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.” –Jimi Hendrix

Growing up, I loved this ‘70s TV show called Kung Fu, starring David Carradine as a Shaolin mixed-race monk returned from China to track down his half-brother in the American West. (It loses a bit in the translation.)

Kwai-Chang Caine’s flashbacks featured his Shaolin mentors and their clever methods, and my 14-year-old girl’s takeaway was more of a question, really.  Hey, where was my Master Po – blind but all seeing — keeping me accountable and teaching me higher truths? Where were the wise elder adepts helping me understand it all? Because what Caine had? I wanted it, at least in theory.

A seminal show, Kung Fu brought the wisdom of the East to American television, as well as all its badass, peace-keeping martial arts masters. Qualities I remember feeling drawn to were mindfulness, silence, speed, and perspective, both for their exoticism and also their deeper familiarity.  Even before digital overload and universal ADHD, people longed for these attributes, which, in my education and upbringing, at least, were not necessarily notated or cultivated.

In my family, for instance, with my career military father at the head of the table, quiet was kept through obedience. Peace happened when Lieutenant Colonel Dad was reading the paper in the living room or doing some elaborate project in his workroom. Peace was my mom in her prolific garden or listening to Mozart with a coffee. Mindfulness was “paying attention” to whichever chore you were assigned and hopefully doing right (probably being supervised to that end).

The present moment, also known as “the now”? Despite Be Here Now, authored by American Ram Dass in 1971, my only understanding of the now came obliquely, through the story unfolding on Kung Fu.

Is wisdom something still even obliquely revered in our popular culture, in our day-to-day lives? We could examine this via personal perspective. For example, if someone were to ask you what qualities constitute wisdom, would you have an answer ready? Or would you begin by thinking first about all the Master Po’s in your life, characters in stories who are instantly populating your list over real people? Gandalf, Dumbledore, Yoda, Merlin, and so on.

Or would you think of historical figures first, like Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus, Marcus Aurelius? (A significant lack of women here, folks.) Or maybe prototypes would come to mind, like the “wise old woman” or “tribe elder” or the turtle whose slow and steady pace wins the race. Or possibly avatars in the world of gaming.

Is there an actual wise person in your life, someone you admire because of whatever these elusive but sort of self-evident qualities are? Wisdom, a non-denominational virtue, is becoming easier and easier to long for in the world today; what we are needing may be all the qualities embodied within it. Experience and perspective; self-knowledge, discipline and emotional regulation; humility, compassion and acceptance; curiosity, reflection, discernment and right action. Stillness and critical thinking.

This is quite the list to lay out, as we Whoville-ians work to change just one habit in our lives. To meditate more. Or complain less. Or practice more courage. But the point – and what is best for our overall health — is to reconnect with and recognize these beautiful qualities in ourselves and in others and acknowledge them as worthy of having or attaining. In reading the list again, you can see how important each one is within the holistic health of the mind-body continuum.

Turns out, all these many years later, I am still looking for the same things that TV show touched in me – the mental quiet, discipline, and equanimity. In short, an expanded perspective and deeper clarity. Though there are no “wisdom hacks” or quick tweaks, there are some obvious habits to encourage in ourselves: listening, slowing down, embracing mistakes, and self-reflection, to name a few.

In the show’s intro every week, one of the masters would hold out a pebble in his palm, saying to the younger Caine. “When you can take the pebble from my hand, it will be time for you to leave.”

I remember how this sat with me as a physical challenge but also a spiritual one: who do I need to be to snatch that pebble or that metaphorical one? Who do I need to be?