Author of the material:
Igor Lyadsky
Geneticist, writer, business coach, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).
With intelligence, knowledge, and intelligence, everything seems to be clear. Many people can explain them. But when asked what wisdom is, only a few will answer. After all, it goes far beyond the usual education or upbringing. Wisdom is not taught in school or university. Where, then, can I get it? Can I do this on my own, or do I need a mentor? At what age does wisdom come, does it depend on the years lived? We will try to answer all these questions together.
What is wisdom?
Wisdom is intelligence supplemented by experience. It is not enough to know something; it is also important to be able to apply this knowledge correctly. By and large, several interpretations of wisdom can be distinguished. From a philosophical point of view, this skill reflects the degree of knowledge of the world and assimilation of information. In religions, wisdom is a quality that absolutely belongs to the Creator, and is revealed to people in small fragments. in the lexicon as a synonym for wisdom. This is where the term “philosophy” itself comes from, as “philosophy.”
At the everyday level, we can talk about the wisdom of life that appears in people as they grow up. It is associated with various experienced situations. Thus, ancient knowledge about the laws and mechanisms of nature once appeared. For example, people discovered the medicinal properties of certain herbs, studied the behavior of wild animals, and foresaw seasonal climate changes. Nobody taught them this. It’s just that the experience and knowledge gained through numerous trials and errors helped to better understand the world around us and ourselves.
Most often, wisdom is associated with maturity , but the number of years lived cannot be its only measure. The fact is that more important than biological age is its psychological equivalent. Someone can gain as much wisdom at thirty as another at fifty. This quality will not necessarily be possessed by a gray-haired old man who lives off the family fortune of his aristocratic ancestors. At the same time, a young girl who has changed a dozen jobs and been through any kind of ups and downs will be distinguished by real life wisdom. Many are sure that for women this quality is much more important than academic knowledge.
Understanding the versatility of wisdom, our ancestors identified a number of its types, which will be discussed in the next section.
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Wisdom of life
What is the main sign of wisdom? Most people believe that they have this quality. Well, because being wise is at least pleasant. And positioning yourself as wise can also be beneficial. Therefore, if you ask a person whether he considers himself wise, probably more than half of those surveyed will answer in the affirmative. But is it really worth seeing a sage in each of these “sages”?
One of the main criteria of wisdom is a person’s state of happiness. For many centuries, people have been practicing philosophy and wisdom, and there are many different philosophical concepts, including very, very strange ones. For example, the concept of “taking everything from life” or “living for your own pleasure” is also a kind of philosophical concept, and its supporters can even give you many funny arguments in its defense and, in general, advertise this idea in every possible way. However, is it worth talking about wisdom here? Very doubtful.
How can we determine the presence of true wisdom from various kinds of pseudo-philosophical concepts? Everything is based on the same criteria - the presence of a state of happiness. If a “sage” conveys to you certain philosophical views and promotes concepts that he invites you to believe in, you should pay attention to whether he himself is happy following his views. More precisely, the first step is to find out whether he himself follows the concepts that he conveys to others. It often happens that a person likes to speculate about the immorality of society, but at the same time he himself is the bearer of all possible vices. Therefore, the first thing we do is monitor whether a person’s words and deeds are at odds? And the next criterion for assessing wisdom is the state of happiness. If a person is happy, adhering to his philosophy, such wisdom can be perceived as true.
It is important to consider the concept of happiness here. People who drink alcohol are also, to some extent, illusively happy. But such happiness is short-lived, illusory and leads only to suffering and nothing else. Therefore, happiness is primarily an internal state of a person. What does internal state mean? Here we are talking about the fact that his happiness does not depend on external conditions. That is, such a person remains happy under any circumstances, and not just with an apartment, a car, or a salary.
And if you objectively see that a person, adhering to his views, is happy, then it is quite possible that in front of you is a wise person. In general, if a person is happy regardless of external conditions, this is a sign of wisdom. And how often can you meet such people today? Alas, not often.
Most philosophical concepts, or rather, pseudo-philosophical concepts that are present in society today, lead a person to degradation. Concepts such as “take everything from life”, “get over your head”, “if you do something bad, it brings joy to your heart”, “live one day at a time” and so on, which encourage you to only have fun without thinking about the consequences, are very common in our society . And the younger generation perceives them as a familiar and normal paradigm of life, believing that this is the worldly wisdom with which they, like a red banner, go through life. But you can see that this rarely leads them to happiness. What is worldly wisdom and what are its features?
Types of wisdom.
In Russian-language theology, there is a classification based on a person’s approach to the divine principle. According to these views, there are the following types:
- Wisdom is the highest degree of wisdom inherent in the Creator;
- Wisdom is a person’s experience multiplied by the knowledge revealed to him;
- Prudence is the skills and abilities acquired by a person.
According to Buddhist beliefs, there are five types of wisdom characteristic of women. If desired, a man can comprehend them:
- Mirror – clear and objective perception of things or events;
- Equalizing - a feeling of close interconnection and equality between all things;
- Discriminating – perceiving things separately and as parts of the whole;
- Related to experience – the ability to learn lessons from life situations;
- All-pervasive - understanding of the boundlessness and universality of the world, a sense of the possibilities of space.
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Other religions offer their own interpretations of wisdom, but they can be conditionally divided into two categories: Divine (spiritual) and human (vital). Wisdom of life is the skill of competent application of accumulated knowledge. It arises only in the process of activity, since it depends on its results. Higher wisdom can appear in a state of peace, for example, meditation, when a person clears his mind so much of everything unnecessary that he begins to feel the voice of the Universe.
Wisdom Wise Sage
Wisdom is intelligence infused with conscience.
Fazil Iskander
Wisdom as a personality quality is the ability to understand higher, holistic, spiritual and practical knowledge and make it part of one’s experience; be able to draw conclusions without logic, without using logical connections, evidence, build your thinking on the principles of a system of restrictions; in internal conversation, hear only your mind and intuition; know exactly the sequence of your actions; to see where what is happening leads to and with the right word give rise to the right actions of others; respect the advice of others; stand in relationship with life on the platform of the humble Disciple.
When the Wise Pig was asked what she thought about wisdom, she answered without hesitation: “True wisdom does not presuppose the presence of knowledge, but the correctness of actions; not accomplishing great deeds of a great mind, but avoiding nonsense; not the study of circumstances through one's own efforts, but the memory of other people's failures. True wisdom does not tolerate excesses and bragging, which is always held in high esteem by people, which is why there are few wise people: there is a lot of work, but little glory. “Tell me, Pig,” they asked her, “what is the work of avoiding mistakes?” “In the fight against the desire to do something stupid, and if successful, in the fight against one’s own pride, leading to troubles and shame,” answered the Wise Pig.
L.N. Tolstoy defined wisdom as “knowledge of eternal truths applicable to life.” A person can memorize all the encyclopedias in the world, but still not gain wisdom. Informative knowledge reaches the mind and settles on the status of theory. A person understands everything, but for various reasons he does not want to apply new knowledge in his life. Knowledge that has reached the mind is questioned, analyzed, and compared with existing knowledge and life experience. A wise person, convinced of the truth and authority of knowledge, makes it part of his experience, that is, puts it into practice. Wisdom is knowledge that has been competently entered into life.
For example, a person knows that the mind and the central nervous system rest from 21 to 24 hours, that if you go to bed later, the body is gradually destroyed, the immune system suffers and at some point it will definitely fail. Diseases will fall immediately, like an avalanche. He knows this, but, engaging in self-deception, he convinces himself that he is a “night owl.” This is not wisdom, but its opposite - stupidity. In other words, wisdom as a quality of personality carefully listens to the point of view of another person, weighs the received informative knowledge on the scales of truth and authority, analyzes it, compares it with one’s worldview and, having convinced itself of its correctness, seeks to use it in one’s own or someone else’s practice.
A sage sees trends in the development of events and can guide people along the right path with the right words. Wisdom is the ability to make the only correct decision in the interval between the emerging problem situation and the reaction to it. Wisdom knows how to act correctly in the most difficult situations. A smart, resourceful person will be able to “get out” of a difficult situation. Wisdom, as a rule, does not get into such situations, calculating the consequences of its actions in advance. Of course, no one is exempt from life lessons, just like from physical education lessons. Wisdom also accepts the challenges of life, sees new opportunities in them and wisely solves them as tasks necessary for further personal growth.
Wisdom is the absence of pride; it is the humble position of the Student in relationships with the outside world. “Live forever, learn forever” is the life motto of wisdom. The taste of wisdom is the taste of discipleship. Realizing its own smallness and the insignificance of existing knowledge, wisdom always opens its mind to new knowledge. The mind is blocked by egoism. Wisdom is the mistress of her mind, which easily controls insatiable feelings and a restless mind. Life for her is an eternal Teacher and Advisor. Unlike pride, it believes that life is perfect and I am imperfect. Therefore, I need to change myself for the better, cultivate virtues in myself, then the vices will be painlessly pushed out of my character, as manifested personality traits. Confucius said: “A wise man is ashamed of his shortcomings, but is not ashamed to correct them.”
Wisdom understands that there are no drafts in life. Everything is written white and clear, the first time. As the English proverb says: “If everything could be done a second time, everyone would be wise.” Therefore, wisdom directs knowledge into life only in a state of complete confidence in its correctness.
Wisdom is the process of liberation from stupidity. These are two poles. These are two qualities on the same coordinate scale. The more strength wisdom gains, the weaker stupidity becomes. A sage is a person whose stupidity has withered away, barely breathes and, despite his amazing vitality, continues to wither and slowly die. Tom Robbins, in his book Still Life with a Woodpecker, writes: “You can’t get rich by wisdom. This is not a process of acquisition, but rather of liberation. People become wiser when they lose something.” Wisdom understands that there is no need to bend the world to suit you, change and control others to please your ideas of how to live correctly. There is no need to attribute to others what you want to see in them, there is no need to burden them with your false expectations.
In other words, wisdom sees nothing wrong with life lessons, with overcoming difficulties. There is a parable about the five wise men. The first sage said that everything is bad for people, because everything is bad here (pointing to his forehead). - It was Moses. The second sage said that everything is bad for people, because everything is bad here (pointing to the heart). - It was Christ. The third sage said that everything is bad for people, because everything is bad here (pointing to his pocket). — It was Marx. The fourth sage said that everything is bad for people, because everything is bad here (pointing below the belt). - It was Freud. And the fifth sage said that things are not so bad for people, because everything is relative. — It was Einstein.
Wisdom is a connection with God manifested in the realities of life. In order for such a connection to be strong, you need to have pure consciousness, spirituality and personal integrity. A sage is a person who is hungry for truth. He clearly understands that answers to all questions can only be obtained from the Absolute. Therefore, the soul of wisdom always strives to be in the company of its “Father.” Wisdom is the eternal striving for truth, for perfection.
A young man once came to a sage and asked: “Sir, what should I do to become wise?” The sage did not deign to answer him. After repeating his question several times with the same result, the young man finally left, only to return the next day with the same question. Again he did not receive an answer and returned on the third day, again repeating the question: “Sir, what should I do to become wise?” The sage finally turned and headed towards the nearby river. He entered the water, nodding for the young man to follow him. Having reached a sufficient depth, the sage took him by the shoulders, plunged him into the water and kept him there, despite his attempts to free himself. Finally he let him go and, when the young man regained his breath, asked: “My son, when you were under water, what did you desire most?” The young man answered without hesitation: “Air! Air! I wanted air! “Wouldn’t you prefer wealth, pleasure, power, food or love instead, my son? Have you thought about any of them?” - asked the sage. “No, sir, I only thirsted for air and thought only of air,” came the immediate answer. “So,” said the sage, “to become wise, you must want wisdom as much as you just wanted air. You must fight for it, giving up all other goals in life. She should be the only object of your aspiration, constantly, day and night. If you strive for wisdom with such zeal, my son, you will definitely become wise.”
Petr Kovalev Other articles by the author: https://www.podskazki.info/karta-statej/
