Wisdom: Our View

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          Wisdom is that which holds the constant and constantly changing universe together. Wisdom is that which is credited with having the "final say" in keeping the universe moving forward, brilliantly. Wisdom is found everywhere, and is seen as the only thing left standing at the end of every day.  Wisdom is an invaluable commodity, nice to have access to, and a generous rewarder of those seeking it. We’ve known for thousands of years that when we train our minds in wisdom, lovingkindness and compassion, our lives improve and we can contribute to the lives around us in more powerful ways.

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          On a more practical note, there is great potential and delight to be reaped aiming for a wise path through this tough world with wisdom as a traveling partner. It's a valuable asset to be able to know 'in real time' how to determine fact from fiction, truth from falsehood, and what 'is' and 'is not' worth arguing about.  Its benefits can bring peace, truth, and understanding in personal and professional lives that often harbor conflict, misunderstanding, or may just need improving.  But best of all, the fruits of wisdom can help bring joy to the soul.

 

          The wisdom we desire is that wisdom gathered by many able students and teachers through time.  Guides and explorers collectively seeking a wise path, many even occasionally standing on each others shoulders to see things that they could not until then have seen.  Those people have gathered much helpful knowledge and many useful tools proven to uncover wisdom.

 

          The path they have uncovered is a path that may help improve your relationship with yourself, with others you care about, possibly even with others who want to care about you.  It's a path as well for avoiding snares and pitfalls as we make our way through this wondrously made and difficult world.  The hope here is to call on many of those wise perspectives, that unique wise community from past and present, and glean some encouragement and insights to freely navigate a more wise path. Because the wise path is different for everybody, but the same.

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          Wisdom is not always something so easily defined. I recall from my youth that a wise person was generally thought of as someone who was not only smart in some way, but also good, that is, as someone having virtue.  The many definitions we are left to sort through seem to agree on at least one or two things: one, wisdom is something we must use to survive, and not just survive, but to survive in a good way;  And, it is something unique - one-of-a-kind - and sort of hard to mistake for anything else.

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                                                More. . . possibilities

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          Wisdom is larger than any one person.  It will always serve a goal common to all, and always produces something good to build on into the future.  Wisdom is self-sustaining and does hold all things together, even when the creatures it has been entrusted to get it wrong.  And it is accessible to all, simply asking to be respected.

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           In order to begin to identify wisdom one would need to begin with a basic and commonly accepted definition of what it is; and there is none.  So we look to the following broad definition found out in the public domain, and that is: Wisdom: the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight.  This definition appears to cover it all, yet, is fatally insufficient. Any common criminal could follow that rough script and do just fine. But it doesn't guarantee him success - and wisdom, worthy of its definition, never fails'. There is one critical aspect that this lexicographer left out, the likes of which will guarantee this lucky crook success in everything he does.  It's honesty.

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          What if you master all of these traits without also mastering honesty?  Things always sooner or later fall apart. One of the great Ponzi scheme artists of the present day, Bernard Maddoff, was considered by many to be eminently wise.  He was able to imitate all of the basic elements of wisdom as he talked his victims into trusting him with huge sums of money.   From the outside he appeared to meet every criteria for being wise.  Yet, with it, he destroyed his own life and the financial livelihoods of many others.  In the end, wisdom was not there.

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          We have many larger, longer, and more explicit definitions of wisdom that try to capture wisdom's very essence, but really what is needed is a simpler rule of thumb that an individual can carry with them throughout the day.  So, we take Albert Einstein's, "Everything must be made as simple as possible . . ." and, from the following extensive! definition of wisdom, we take the main components and key ideas and simplify them to begin to hope for a potentially good working definition for quick use in the spur of the moment.

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          "Wisdom or sapience is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight. Wisdom has been regarded as one of four cardinal virtues; and as a virtue, it is a habit or disposition to perform the action with the highest degree of adequacy under any given circumstance with the limitation of error in any given action. This implies a possession of knowledge, or the seeking of knowledge to apply to the given circumstance. This involves an understanding of people, objects, events, situations, and the willingness as well as the ability to apply perception, judgement, and action in keeping with the understanding of what is the optimal course of action. It often requires control of one's emotional reactions (the "passions") so that the universal principle of reason prevails to determine one's action. In short, wisdom is a disposition to find the truth coupled with an optimum judgement as to what actions should be taken."

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          (Oh my!) This definition is long.  As is true for most long definitions, less is usually better.  But in this one are the basics of a good "working" definition.  From it we can see that wisdom begins to boil down simply to, “applying sound judgement from a position of seeking the truth”.  So, first one must ask themselves, "Hmm, do I want the truth"?  And then, "What is a reliable way Here of avoiding the usual pitfalls of falsehood?"  Sound judgement begins with nothing more than piecing together knowledge that comes from a sound, reliable source.  Sound judgment is not that hard. It gets easier with practice. It's how you test what you want to know for sure. Knowledge that leads us toward a wise place will pass the test. Soon we will get to the test.

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           All that is needed, then, is the desire for the truth, and things quickly get a lot easier.  We must at least be wanting to give truth a chance. To make life easier, an attitude of seeking knowledge and wisdom paves the way; the rest will follow.  Any older adult will admit that it's easy to get stuff wrong.  Life is a learning curve, and if she has not given up yet, she is always socking away more and more knowledge about this and that. It's a process.  It takes time.  You don’t know everything you need to know when starting into unfamiliar territory.  You inquire of those who have been there before you, as they have inquired of others before them.  You learn, and you do better as you go.  If you are patient sound judgement will always answer the call.

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          But, sound judgement is nothing without honesty.  Honesty makes wisdom what it is (valuable), and it begins with being honest with oneself.  It means that things within my own personal piece of the universe will fit together, rightly, with the pieces of the rest of the universe.  It all may still seem like controlled chaos, but an honest wisdom-seeking disposition will guarantee a genuine opportunity to find what it's looking for, as needed.  It will assure reliable, upright, up-building, and wise results in the small things and the large.

 

    Wisdom is peace and prosperity for the soul. 

 

          Nothing will ever impact you more greatly or bring greater rewards than striving after wisdom.  Silver and gold may accompany you along the way, but this inner prosperity of being right with your “self” and the greater universe of things is far more satisfying and precious.

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           Albert Einstein has the reputation for being a pretty smart guy. This, no doubt, gave him great confidence to go out on a limb and say simple truisms with the assurance that he could withstand being laughed at. One of his observations was that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler”.  This sounds encouraging.  But it gets better.  He is also quoted as saying “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough”.  I think he's saying here to keep it simple.  Einstein was an able minded guy.  How much able-mindedness (ablity) does it take to decide what is wise and what is not?  Mr. Einstein seems to think one important part of a "wise" mind is it's ability to keep things simple. And one way to do that is to always refer back to the basics.

 

          Every big idea is simply the sum of it's basic parts. Get the basics right and you've got the rest right.  Get one thing wrong and the whole thing suffers.  It is from the basics that one is able to look up and test much taller arguments.  Great ideas are tested by how well they conform to the basics.  Mr. Einstein's statement suggests that he believes a good teacher must be able to present complicated sounding concepts in simple terms or else the teacher may not truly understand the idea well enough himself.  This is the simple standard that every teacher should aspire to, and the one that should excite every student.  Einstein's respect for the "basics" is a model which we need to attain to as we teach and learn from ourselves and each other.  Wisdom is simply (and gloriously) the product of the basic tools of thinking and discernment that we are all fortunate to have personal access to use to navigate a wise path.

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​          Wisdom is not possible without honesty; and, you won't find honesty without humility. 

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           It's been said, "The wiser we are, the more aware we become of how much we have yet to learn". 

 

 

    (to be cont.)  

                                                              (This website is a work-in-progress and in its early developmental stages)

 

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Wisdom seems to contain a contradiction: The wiser we become,

the more aware we are of what we don't know.

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Wisdom: the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience,

understanding, common sense, and insight - done honestly. 

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