Sagacity

This book is about promoting self-improvement through wisdom. It seems to me that a healthy dose of self-improvement is needed in an age in which selfishness and self satisfaction predominate. People are not improving themselves when they go to extremes in search of enjoyment for its own sake. Opiates, alcohol, eating disorders, sex addiction are among the excesses and extremes to which they are driven in a culture that gives them no boundaries to what they can or cannot do. Also, as a species, we need to get wise to what is good for us. We can better save the planet by living wisely and by using our resources more wisely and thoughtfully. Above all, we need to emulate the sages of the past who teach us home to be sagacious.The book rounds off with a contrast between the wise and the wicked, namely, two case studies. The first case study is about a close relative of mine who was as wise as wise can be. He was true gentleman who lived a wholly creditable life. In his own modest way, he left the world a better place than it was before. The second one is about an employer of mine who later defrauded his fellow businessmen out of ten million pounds. No one knew about it till he walked in front of an articulated lorry - it was the way he chose to get out of the mess he had created. He escaped justice and left his widow and children penniless and homeless. This occurred many years after he fired me for challenging his autocratic style of doing business. My experience of him suggests that he did not have to follow that path to ruin and discredit. He could have done better.