http://wisdomoflesmiserables.blogspot.com/ .

Alfred J. Garrotto

Lord, let me be strong in courage and confidence.

Let me be wise in choices and decisions.

Let me be caring in all relationships and compassionate to those in need.

Let me meet life’s adventures with a clear mind and a bold heart.

Let my integrity be a gift to the world.

And may the Spirit of God be with me always.

Amen.

(source unknown)

It would please me no end to share this book with you. To order, you may go to www.lulu.com/content/1795167 or you can use the mail-in order form on my website (www.blsinc.com/garrotto.htm). 

In future posts, I will talk about the cover art and the artist, a possible second Les Mis book, why I chose to self-publish, and other topics I hope will be of interest to the book’s and this blog’s readers.

What can a nineteenth century French novel teach us about life and love in the 21st century? Plenty. In “The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean,” Alfred J. Garrotto offers Victor Hugo’s flawed protagonist as a model for anyone in search of practical wisdom for everyday living. One of fiction’s most beloved characters, the former convict and life-long fugitive, represents humanity in both its brokenness and its potential for selfless—even saintly—living. The author offers his reader a set of intimate, meditative Reflections on topics ranging from principled living and forgiveness to parenting and the primacy of love. Each Reflection explores a universal theme, including the daily call to spiritual and moral conversion and the summary life-lessons parents impart to their children. Questions at the end of each Reflection invite the reader to use the book as a personal wisdom journal. Alfred J. Garrotto has authored four religious nonfiction books and five novels. His long experience as teacher and spiritual guide has prepared him to harvest the deeper meaning of “Les Miserables” and apply its inspiring message to modern daily life.   Cover art by Douglas M. Lawson

Cosette, Book Second, VI:  Absolute Excellence of Prayer
Reflection           

From various modern renditions of wisdom, I have borrowed pieces and put them together in one statement that makes sense to me:

Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, internal reflection and insight, to discern what is true and to exercise good judgment.

 Let me share what this statement means to me.
.  .  .  ability developed through experience           

Becoming wise requires that I commit myself to observing the human story as lived by those who have preceded me on this planet.  Analyzing that great body of experience, with its successes and failures, virtues and vices, I need to compare it to my  own unfolding story—my life circumstances, perceived problems, and decision-making processes.             

Victor Hugo steeped himself in the history of the human condition.  The fact that his political leanings shifted over his lifetime might be viewed—and would be in the contemporary American scene—as vacillation and expediency.  I prefer to think of it as a reflection of his hope that someone along the political spectrum, at some point in his lifetime, would eventually “get it right.”  He understood only too well the terrible consequences for society’s marginalized populations—les miserables—of failure to learn from the mistakes of the past.

.  .  .  internal reflection           

Based on what humanity has learned over time and what my own personal history and instincts reveal to me, I am called upon, at a given moment in time, to make the best evaluation of what I must do in similar historical circumstances.  In other words, I assess what has worked in the past to my benefit and to the greater good of all—and what hasn’t.           

Although Hugo’s personal habits and behaviors seemed eccentric at times, the author of Les Miserables possessed a rich interior life that combined personal faith in God and a keen desire to promote “liberty and justice for all.”

.  .  .  and insight            

Based on the results of my observation of history and reflection on its meaning, I gain creative insight to develop a plan for living satisfied and productive lives and promoting the welfare of those around me and the world at large.           

In Les Miserables, particularly in the life of the novel’s protagonist Jean Valjean, Victor Hugo drew a map for human living that, if followed, would create a more just, rational, and beautiful world than most human beings live in today.    

The evil portrayed in the persons of Inspector Javert and the Thenardiers (innkeepers), and in the legal and penal systems of the author’s  time, is a sinister model of inhuman behavior.  Hugo plunges his readers into the hell of these characters and institutions and—for me—their modern global counterpart (corporate greed, genocide, inter- and intra-religious slaughter, domestic poverty, homelessness, displaced refugees .  .  .  where does the list end?).

.  .  .  to discern what is true and to exercise good judgment.

Experience, reflection, insight: these are essential ingredients in the search for and discernment of elusive truth.  To the extent that truth is available and achievable, it leads me to sound judgment .  .  .  to wisdom.   

Harvesting the Depth and Richness of My Life 

How would I define or describe wisdom?

On a scale of one to  ten (10 being the highest), how would I rate myself as a wise person?

Who is the wisest person I have ever known or encountered? What is it (or was it) about him or her that merits this “gold star”?

Who in the current world community would I single out as someone who is “wise”?  What is it about this person that merits this assessment?

What would I need to do or change in my life to grow in wisdom? 

Copyright (c) 2007 by A. J. Garrotto