I’m not sure if there are different “kinds” of wisdom but I do think that this guy’s got a point. Wisdom isn’t something that arises from within. We gain wisdom by taking things in that aren’t ours and realizing that we were pretty ignorant, or just plain stupid not to have realized this thing before. Wisdom grows in proportion to our awareness of our own ignorance.
That learning about our own ignorance is important. It opens our mind — or at least it should open our mind — to the possibility of understandings over and above what we have learned, or think we know. It’s a great big world out there and none of us has all the answers — or even knows all the questions to ask to learn the answers.
Indeed, I fear that too many folks don’t care that there are questions to ask. I know too many parents who force their children into pathways that they wanted for themselves but were unable, untalented enough, or too frightened to achieve for themselves. I know there are too many politicians who have accepted enough bribes that they dare not ask questions. I know enough bosses whose careers depend not on making next quarter’s profits but on being able to hold themselves harmless for any profit shortfalls because they are inadequate managers. There are a million reasons why wisdom is rejected because we are too proud, arrogant: truly the gods hate hubris and a great many citizens suffer from it.
I don’t think there’s any way to “teach” wisdom. It’s not about knowledge. You can “know everything” and still not be wise. And you can “have” very little and still be very wise. Some of the wisest people I have known have been aged immigrants who could barely hold a conversation in their second language (English) but who had seen enough of life, love, and suffering to be better counsellors than degreed shrinks. Curiously enough, none of them went around expecting people to flock to them for advice.
WE live in a world with excessive information, and not a lot of knowledge. Yet, for all the knowledge that there is, there is even less wisdom. We trade short term gains for long term suffering. We bomb generation after generation of children — and then we can’t understand why the future generations hate us. Particularly in the U.S. where we have been at nearly continuous war with some country or another for the entire 200+ years of our existence — we don’t. understand why people around the world may want the freedoms and the wealth that we have but hate the society we have become.
Wisdom has a lot to do with our ability to observe what’s happening around us. But first we have to be watching and listening, rather than expounding and proclaiming. I wish more of us could try that….
I hope you’re well, and prospering. Take care of yourself and I’ll talk with you tomorrow.
From the Far Side of '70 