Lessons of knowledge 37. Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge - read online

The first interpretations of the concept under consideration

They are indicated in the first dictionaries of the Russian language of the 11th – 12th centuries, namely:

reason, prudence, intelligence are wisdom;
scholarship, body of knowledge - great wisdom;
moral perfection, spiritual purity - humility;
religious piety is wisdom;
mastery, perfection, skill - perfect wisdom;
slyness, trickery, cunning - sophistication.

Modern interpretation of the concept in question

Wisdom is the ability to competently apply one's knowledge. This concept also means a deep mind, which is supported by life experience; the ability to find solutions in the most difficult situations; understanding the essence of what is happening.

Wisdom is a person’s valuable ability to both think deeply and act in accordance with high life goals, while being above limited private, transitory interests, including one’s own. This is the initial impulse of the evolution of philosophy, the final synthesis of its directions.

According to M. Epstein, this concept is interpreted as follows:

Wisdom is the deepest knowledge, the required ability to use it effectively and masterfully.
This term implies the ability to separate the unattainable from the inevitable; give up the first, come to terms with the second. Constantly balancing on the edge.
Wisdom is a thirst for knowledge and world events that comes from the heart and soul. Epstein believed that a wise person has such intelligence because he is interested in everything.
He called it a lack of narcissism, a willingness to admire and admire others, this is the look of a child with adult actions.
The wisdom of a person is his ability to find in another, any phenomenon, what needs to be learned. Usually, know-nothings teach others.
Wisdom is interpreted as a correct understanding of the values of life, an intuitive foresight of the probable only correct development of the situation.

Benefits of Wisdom

It gives the following:

a basis for improvement, teachings that are never-ending;
food for the mind, soul;
the ability to both see the present and foresee the future;
freedom from passions, bias, unnecessary emotions;
independence, since a wise person is never attached to luxury;
understanding the logic of what is happening around.

Wisdom of life: what is it?

It is interpreted as the ability to competently use acquired knowledge. The path to great wisdom is thorny and tortuous. But do not forget that it is possible to overcome it. To do this, you will first need desire and several other points.

Life wisdom is the deepest knowledge and understanding that comes, as a rule, in adulthood. It brings joy to life only if a person knows how to share it.

According to statistics, women are the most likely to gain wisdom. Such understanding occurs regardless of one’s social position (it is not necessary to have a higher education for this). Worldly wisdom is an unpredictable phenomenon.

Wisdom originates in close attention to one's own person. People become calmer and more balanced if there are no evil forces such as envy, hypocrisy, hatred, and lies in their environment. In the absence of falsehood and lies in interpersonal relationships, each person becomes closer to wisdom.

Wisdom

The wisdom of people is measured not by their experience, but by their ability to acquire it.

Bernard Show

Gaining wisdom is a great, one might even say, great achievement.
And not every person, even at a very advanced age, can boast of it. Wisdom is a value that comes to a person over the years. It is impossible to be young and wise. But age itself does not make a person wise. We must strive for wisdom, and not just wait for it. Wisdom is not just knowledge, experience, prudence - it is, first of all, calmness, the absence of unnecessary emotions that overshadow reason. A wise person is a calm person, he looks at life with an understanding of its meaning. He knows how to accept life as it is, seeing a certain purpose in everything that happens in it. In youth, when people have all their senses heightened, when they often react to everything that happens in their lives quite impulsively and very rarely think about what is happening - they are very far from wisdom, because they lack the calm and poise that comes with age. Feelings, emotions, heightened instincts, and of course the lack of necessary knowledge and experience - all this prevents people from being wise. In this article I will tell you how people whom I personally consider very wise, in their own words, acquired this great value. To begin with, it should be said that in order to gain wisdom it is necessary to feel, and if possible, then understand its value. And the sooner a person sees great value for himself in wisdom, the faster he will begin to strive for it. And you can strive for it in different ways. And the first of them is, of course, gaining knowledge. Knowledge is the key to understanding this world and oneself. We came into this world to learn, but each of us does it in our own way, some learn from the mistakes of others, and some from their own. And those who do not study at all teach others by their negative example. It is best to strive for wisdom through knowledge of the wisdom of our ancestors, that is, by learning from the experience of others. The ability to not step on the same rake that other people have stepped on is a colossal achievement. As Confucius said: “A person has three ways to know wisdom: the first, the most noble, is reflection; the second, the easiest, is imitation; the third, the most bitter, is experience.” To gain wisdom through reflection, you need to receive knowledge and think about it. That is, you need to study this world. And we all seem to start doing this from an early age, when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also gain knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But only a few of us become wise. These are the people who, more than others, realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and devoted their lives to active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is if not the constant pursuit of knowledge, of which there is never much. A sage is an eternal student.

And yet, more important in this matter is the time during which a person gets to know this world. This is the time of life that is allotted to each of us and which we need to use wisely, and not just waste. First, a person learns to satisfy his most basic needs. Then he forms his own value system, deciding what is important to him in this life and what is not, and develops according to it. Then he becomes more mature, removing all sorts of nonsense and unviable childhood dreams from his life, if, of course, he develops and does not get stuck in adolescence. And only then does he come to the first grains of wisdom. Thus, wisdom is preceded by the maturity of the mind, for it is the mature mind that is able to perceive life as rationally as possible, without succumbing to the influence of its animal essence. And the manifestation of complete, absolute wisdom is calmness - this is its main sign. And, whatever one may say, it comes with age. A calm person is a reasonable, thinking, patient, not fussy person who knows how to control himself. He is also a very observant and attentive person - he constantly watches himself and other people, and thanks to this he sees and understands a lot. He can be like this only at a certain age, when all his strongest feelings fade away and he begins to perceive life primarily with the help of reason. But, as I already said, you should not think that wisdom comes on its own - you can live to see gray hair and never become a wise person. For wisdom is the result of a lot of work on oneself. You can, of course, gain some wisdom without any work, because with age we all become calmer and gain some experience. But such wisdom, which came to a person not thanks to his work on himself, but only with the help of age, is not as rich as that which became the result of his serious work. That is why there are not so many wise people in our society. Most people, as they grow old, turn not into sages, but into little children who can teach the younger generation practically nothing. And this is precisely why a person needs wisdom.

Yes, the meaning of wisdom is precisely to pass it on in a certain form to subsequent generations. Therefore, in order to achieve it, a person needs motivation in the form of a goal - to teach someone something very useful, directly related to people’s lives. That is, if you want to become a wise person, then you need to decide to whom and why you will transfer your wisdom. These could be your children, students, or generally all those people who will be interested in your knowledge and experience. And there will always be such people. You can often hear that young people don’t want to learn anything, that they repeat the mistakes of their fathers and grandfathers and prefer to make mistakes on their own. But it is not so. It would be more correct to say that most people, including very young people, do not want to learn anything from anyone - they do not want to adopt the experience of their ancestors. Moreover, some of them do not learn from their own experience. But there are people [they have always been, are and will be] who are happy to adopt the experience of wiser people. For them, the wisdom of generations is a huge value that they passionately desire to master in order to then pass it on to the next generation. That’s why they need wise people who will become teachers for them. I believe that humanity must grow up and get smarter. All subsequent generations as a whole should be smarter than previous ones. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of our human existence. So becoming wise in order to make subsequent generations even wiser is a very worthy goal for a person. But it is clear that it is not suitable for all people. Therefore, not all of us are sufficiently motivated to acquire wisdom. Many people simply don’t need it - they don’t see the point in it.

If you are one of those people who see meaning for themselves in wisdom and want to acquire it, then like Confucius, I advise you to do this through reflection, or rather, through acquiring knowledge and developing your thinking. To become wise, you need to actively explore the world and solve a variety of problems and tasks directly related to people's lives. And the broader your worldview, the better. Good knowledge only in one particular area can make a person a good specialist, but not a sage, because in many other matters related to life, he will be blind. And since a person cannot know everything, then in order to gain breadth of knowledge he needs to develop his thinking in order not just to be a knowledgeable person, but to be a person seeking knowledge and constantly learning about this world. For he is wise who knows that he knows nothing, as Socrates said. And we don’t know a lot. And you need to know about this. You see, friends, the real truth is something that needs to be constantly sought. This is one of the meanings of life - not to know, but to find out. The truth is somewhere near. And the sage knows that it will always be inaccessible to human understanding, it is always hidden from his eyes. We can only know part of the truth - what is available to us and perhaps even allowed to know. But having learned something, discovered something for himself, received an answer to his question, a person will simultaneously receive many new questions, he will be faced with many new secrets that need to be discovered, studied, learned in order to learn even more. Therefore, a wise person is a person who is always open to everything new. This is a person who will explore the world until his last breath. You also need to be prepared for this. I would even say that you need to want this. A wise person does not need certainty. He knows that his knowledge is not complete, no matter how much he knows.

I cannot and will not argue that every person should strive for something great, should want to realize himself to the fullest, should live by the highest values and ultimately become a sage. This is a matter of personal preference, and perhaps a person’s purpose. Life often shows us that every person should be in his own place. I know many people who are not interested in anything in life except what is connected with their daily life. They eat, drink, sleep, have fun, enjoy simple things and they don’t need anything else, nothing at all. They are happy with the limited lifestyle they have. So perhaps this is how it should be. This is how their life should be. They do not need anything higher, great, outstanding, because they are not able to understand it. And there are people who cannot live a limited life; they are simply torn apart from the inside if they do not learn, study, discover, improve themselves and realize their personal potential. Remember the same Lomonosov, well, he could not live the way other people in his village lived - he wanted more, he was born for more. And he came to this more. Therefore, to be or not to be wise is perhaps not even a person’s choice, but his destiny. Be that as it may, if you have a desire to gain wisdom in old age, realize it. For it is better to regret what you did than what you did not do.

Some people begin to strive for wisdom only after experiencing negative shocks in their lives. Strong shocks often force people to rethink their lives and find new values in it. But what is important is not what will make a person want to become wise; what is much more important is that by taking the path of a sage, a person will take the first and most important step in the direction of wisdom. He realizes the highest value in this life that he wants to possess. You have to fall in love with wisdom in order to begin to actively strive for it. After all, this path is endless, you can walk along it forever. But for those who choose it for themselves, life will meet them halfway and will help in every possible way. For whoever has, more will be given to him and he will have abundance, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

Wise woman

She is incredibly attractive to every man. A wise woman conquers the stronger sex again and again. She realizes that a man never fully matures. He is quite easy to offend. It is necessary to have generosity, a sense of humor, and intuition in order to understand him and then forgive him.

A man should always feel exceptional, unique, irreplaceable of his kind. He is delighted when he hears flattery, compliments and words of gratitude in his direction.

A wise woman is always necessary for the colleagues and co-workers around her; they should know that they can come to her for advice and share their experiences. Her opinion will have significant weight for them. Grandchildren, children and loved ones will gather next to such a woman even in old age.

Bridging the Gap: Turning Knowledge into Wisdom

It is much easier to seek and receive knowledge than wisdom. Consequently, there are many more “smart people” in the world than “wise men.” However, with the necessary knowledge, bridging the gap between adequate information and its intelligent application is quite simple. Wisdom is the useful, practical application of knowledge.

There are many examples of transforming information and knowledge into intelligent action, including:

Reading blogs/articles and listening to lectures on the best trading strategies to diversify your investment portfolio, and then practicing and mastering the strategies;
reading articles or talking with a nutritionist about the best nutrition systems for weight loss, and then preparing and consuming food;
Watch a video about the latest Zen meditation techniques for relaxation, and then put the techniques into practice.

For example, in the world of corporate finance, knowledge consists of the information contained in a company's financial documents. Wisdom includes the ability to evaluate this knowledge—through the use of skills such as financial modeling and forecasting—and determine a valuation that accurately reflects the company's ability to operate as a profitable business enterprise.

Folk wisdom and ethnic survival

Folk art is the most important moment in human activity regarding mastery of one’s own internal and external world. When a representative of the human race separated himself from the outside world, it was then that the search for himself, his place began. Man expressed the result of all this through oral creativity: the creation of wise proverbs, cunning riddles, funny and sad ritual songs, magical, everyday tales, solemn epics about great heroic deeds, which were chanted to the mesmerizing ringing of strings. All of them, one might say, are imbued with the wisdom of their ancestors and contain national, universal values.

Folk wisdom is, without exaggeration, one of the most important components of folk art, a treasury of national, universal values that have been developed by the masses over many generations.

Such wisdom consists of very ancient forms of practical and spiritual exploration of the world. At the same time, it is a modern product of the social life of the entire people, a unique phenomenon of social consciousness that has a separate immanent logic, ethics and epistemology.

Folk wisdom is often equated to different sections of folk art, as a rule, to folklore and its genres. These two concepts (“folklore”, “folk wisdom”) today in the Russian language do not coincide, since the first is both broader in scope and more specific than the second.

Wisdom is an ambiguous and multifaceted concept; each researcher interprets it in his own way, since the etymology of the word “philosophy” is tied to “love of wisdom.”

However, among the philosophical literature, three main directions in the interpretation of this concept can be distinguished. Thus, the word “sophia,” despite the fact that it is translated as “wisdom,” means both a subjective state of mind and an objective (real) state of affairs: beauty, harmony, perfection. It also contains a fairly clear indication of creativity. Based on this, wisdom is interpreted as “a special form of human reflection on the surrounding existence, of course, based both, according to Losev, on the mental-discursive method of spiritual everyday development (through categories, concepts), and on the intuitive position of the surrounding world (with the help of symbols , images)".

Typology of Eastern wisdom

There are five types that are achieved through yoga. They are all united by Transmundane wisdom - that which is beyond the boundaries of worldly consciousness. Also, the All-discriminating wisdom of consciousness (Supramundane) is achieved by the sage in a state such as nirvana. It gives the ability to perceive each thing in its entirety. One who possesses this type of wisdom, which is acquired in a non-cognitive calm state of mind (in indifference to the appearance and disappearance of thoughts), analyzes to answer questions similar to the tasks posed in Zen (Japanese schools) to the neophyte, namely:

What is the real nature of the mind in a state of inaction?
How does the mind maintain this stillness?
How does the mind come out of this state?
Does he remain calm while driving?
Does the mind move while remaining calm and still?
Are the two conditions different?
How does “moving” turn into “stationary”?

These questions serve as mental exercises; they awaken special transcendental knowledge. The result of all this is the knowledge that “moving” is no different from “immovable” and vice versa.

If the analysis does not reveal their true nature, then it is necessary to find out whether there is a difference between the mind acting as an observer from the “stationary” and “moving”, or whether it is their essence.

Main thought

Wisdom and knowledge are closely interrelated. Wisdom is about putting into practice the information gained through the pursuit of knowledge. In any area of life—especially business and finance—possession of both knowledge and wisdom is the key to success.

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Purpose beyond mental limits

When analyzed through the self-knowing mind, nothing is revealed due to the fact that the observer and the observed are an inseparable whole. Due to the fact that this inseparability is not cognized by the mind, it can be comprehended through such a stage as “a goal beyond mental limits.” It is a known fact that in the True State, extreme opposites - nirvana and samsara - are comprehended as an inseparable whole; no ideas that come from rationality can be applied. They are also beyond existing dogmas and theories. None of the many mental aspects or its activities is separated from the other.

Achieving Knowledge is a condition for gaining faith

A person will not be able to gain deep faith in the unity of the Almighty, who rules the entire universe, unless he rises to the level of True Knowledge.

However, the question arises: if the acquisition of Knowledge leads a person to the point that everything experienced by the soul becomes an immutable conviction, is there no danger of becoming a convinced apostate?

Not in the least! Throughout my life, I have met different people and been exposed to different opinions, but I have not seen anyone who became an apostate as a result of gaining deep knowledge.

After all, whatever a person’s views on the mystery of the origin of the world, they will never become so obvious to him that he considers them more significant than faith in G-d. After all, the miracle and mystery hidden in everything, even in the true essence of inanimate objects, do not diminish after all the explanations. No experiments or studies shed more light on the mystery of the universe than the true faith of even an ignorant person. And even more so this concerns the greatest mystery of such creations as plants, animals and humans!

But thanks to Knowledge, a person’s faith becomes for him a conviction and an immutable truth. After all, we feel faith everywhere. We are not even talking about great people to whom the secret of G‑d, the wonders of the universe and G‑d’s governance have been revealed. It is easy for them to believe in G-d, because the gates of wisdom are open before them, and they constantly see and feel the power of the Almighty, who created everything and gives existence to everything. Many fail to reach such a high “human level” to penetrate into the Divine secret. However, if the Almighty has gifted people with common sense, then wide opportunities open up before them through the Wisdom of the Torah, science, and knowledge of the world to see the power of a single Essence that sets the entire universe in motion! How can a person endowed with reason not notice this and not come to faith?! It is easy for even the most ignorant people to gain some understanding of G‑d because they see events happening in the world toward a common goal. And the presence of a single goal testifies to the existence of the One who predetermined it and directed everything in the world towards its implementation. You just need to elevate yourself to the level of Knowledge, learn to perceive and comprehend the truth and base your entire life in this world on it.