Wisdom is in action in the lives of people everywhere. Herders in Mongolia,
weavers in India, almond shellers in Morocco, professors in New York. Over
tens of thousands of years of human life, the accumulation and sharing of
wisdom have been woven through the fabric of daily life in every culture, in
every corner of the world. Wisdom is shared around campfires, in village
squares, over back fences and in magazines, at conferences, and on
television.
Some of the greatest among us share their wisdom directly, as well as by
Example—like the Dalai Lama and Martin Luther King and so many profound
spiritual leaders. But to limit our quest for wisdom to studying these
luminous people would be to overlook the deep and broad wisdom lived daily
in ordinary lives.
Wisdom is in the grateful songs of the harvest, in the sharing of a meal, in
the planting of trees, in service to the poor—in the thousand small and
large expressions of caring, tenderness, affection, connection and gratitude
that are all around us.
Our daily work is on some level the pursuit of wisdom, through experience,
through study, and through observation of those who live wisely. Building
the planetary community; transcending borders, external and internal;
calls for new ways of sharing this simple, common wisdom of everyday life,
from and with people of all cultures and circumstances.
As a visual anthropologist, I have worked for decades with a small but
inspiring community; that of documentary filmmakers all over the world, who
observe, record, and lovingly present the lives of those around them. I
have seldom seen elsewhere the consistent passion and determination of these
people, who persist despite an often complete absence of recognition and
reward for their work. This is a community dedicated to wisdom, and the
sharing of wisdom. The accumulated work of documentary filmmakers
worldwide, whose stories are often of the ordinary lives of others, offers a
phenomenal storehouse of wisdom lived.
My work for the past many years has been finding and creating ways to make
this wisdom more easily and widely available. I believe that the time has
come for global public television: a global village square and back fence
and campfire, a noncommercial venue for sharing the work of filmmakers in
every culture and community around the world with a global audience. From
these films, we can observe the wisdom of the world as it is lived. And
from these films, we can tap into the oneness of humanity with its six
billion glorious faces, and its deep and exquisite underlying unity.
Martha Foster is the founder and Executive Director of Living Earth Television. www.LETV.org
