MembreJasonMerchey

Jason Merchey is a philosophical thinker and independent scholar as well as founder of Values of the Wise. Growing up Jewish in a suburb of Los Angeles, he grappled with sociocultural, familial, religious, and psychological issues that led to much of the insight he has today. After junior college, he earned a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in psychology and social behavior from the University of California Irvine, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa for excellence in liberal scholarship. Jason went on to earn a master’s degree in clinical psychology from California State University Fullerton. Having moved to San Diego, he obtained thousands of hours of experience counseling clients of all types. It was in that capacity that Jason became intrigued by and began to study wisdom, values, and ethics. The Values of the Wise™ website (www.ValuesoftheWise.com) and book series were born as ways to lead not only himself but also his clients to find the insight, consolation, and wisdom from great quotations representing our intellectual heritage. He is an admirer of the way Dale Carnegie framed his honoring of ancient wisdom and longs to fuse that heritage with modern, relevant, progressive values and ideals: “The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don't like their rules, whose would you use?”

Jason's first book was a book of quotations entitled Values of the Wise: Profound and Witty Words of Wisdom to Inspire and Empower Us (2003). He followed that up with three similar quote books. Since then, there have been two well-regarded, top-shelf books on the concept of “a life of value.” They both primarily utilize quotes and stories about values and wisdom as the basis for improving one’s life and gaining valuable insight. It has been a pleasure and a challenge to finally amass 25,000 quotations about “the values of the wise,” and Jason is still a dedicated reader, student, and lifelong learner. As a philosopher, former professor of philosophy at Notre Dame, and author of more than a dozen books, Tom Morris, Ph.D. said: “[Jason is] doing more than almost anybody I know for collecting the real wisdom about values in our time. [He’s] bringing together all kinds of profound and interesting and accomplished people to tell their stories and to give a glimpse of their perspectives on the world. Nobody’s doing it like [he’s] doing it, so [he’s] benefiting a tremendous number of people with [his] books, radio show, and everything else [he’s] doing.”

His fourth book (1/2022) is entitled Wisdom: A Very Valuable Virtue That Cannot Be Bought. In this unique combination of psychological research findings, philosophical principles, and personal insights, Jason facilitates the reader's lifelong task of utilizing the incredible wellspring that wisdom can provide.

Jason lives in Hendersonville, NC with his wife and dog. He is primarily a real estate investor.

His website is www.valuesofthewise.com