"Is there a concept more difficult to describe than love? To find an answer to the question 'What is love?' is as difficult as answering the question 'Who actually is it to whom I refer as I?'"

Love and "I" ... these are the most important values in life. One originates from the other, but they are still in contradiction to each other. True love makes us forget our own "I," yet love streams from the "I." Does love exist, or is it essentially always self-love?

True love is possible only on the solid foundation of wisdom, which precedes love. With wisdom, we find self-knowledge and are able to distinguish between self-love and selfless love, between erotic love and love for the true being of the other person.

Not all women are wise, but wisdom has a feminine form. She lives as a quality in both men and women who seek her. She is present to reshape every human intellect into a wise sureness if we ask her, if we love her, and if we seek her.

In ancient Egypt, she was called Isis. Ancient Greeks sought her as Sophia. She also appeared in a human form as Mary, which is how Christians know her. She pours herself into every soul that goes through catharsis and purification. Purification, however slight, gives wisdom--wisdom is a woman.

This book was originally published in Dutch as De wijsheid is een vrouw by Occident Media B.V., 2007.