“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.” – Maya Angelou
Certain recent events in a land close to me yet ever so far has made me think of the word “Wisdom” all day. This thing called “Wisdom”…..what is it?
It is defined as “the capacity of judging rightly in matters relating to life and conduct; soundness of judgement in the choice of means and ends; sometimes, less strictly, sound sense, especially in practical affairs.”
Throughout history, it is a virtue that has always been sought by many and yet few seemed to posses. The Greeks even had a Goddess for it – the beautiful Athena. The Christian Bible says one gets it by fearing God even though I know some rather foolish people who fear God! The Quran says wisdom is given to whom Allah wills – Allah must be stingy! Psychologists try to measure it and anyone who seems to have gobs of it becomes an oracle. So what is this ephemeral quality called wisdom?
Well, wisdom seems to have to do with life. Now life is both biologic and interactional. Biologic in that a body has life and is alive. Interactional in that we live by interacting with others and our environment. A deep understanding and discernment of the environment is knowledge that enhances this interaction. In the same way, a deep understanding of the self and of other humans enhances life and it is this deep understanding of the self and of others that I think constitutes wisdom.
Per my argument, wisdom is then a thorough understanding of the self and of others. It is a deep understanding of the human condition, the human psyche. A knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses and appreciation of what makes humans tick. Our fears, hopes, egos, desires. The wise person understand these human traits really well.
So a wise person exploits his/her strengths and always seeks to minimize the influence of inherent weaknesses, then inasmuch as they are aware of their strengths, the wise will be the first to point out their limitations and seek help for those things in which they are weak.
In dealing with others, the wise person attempts to harness the others’ strengths even as he/she reduces exposure to their weaknesses. This is very much the opposite of what most unwise people do – exploit the weaknesses of others. The wise know that that ultimately never ends well.
A wise person lives by the Golden Rule – treat others as one wishes to be treated. (That is why maybe the Bible says “The Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom).
A good illustration of my theory is offered by the biblical story of the Judgement of King Solomon. Solomon was king of Israel probably from 970 – 931 BC and reputed to be the wisest king that ever lived. The story involves two women who lived together. They both had recently delivered. One slept on and suffocated her baby. On waking up and realizing her baby had died, she hid the body and then claimed the other woman’s baby was hers. This led to a fight and the case was brought before King Solomon. He offered to cut the baby in two and hand each woman one half. At that, the real mother asked him not to while the other woman wanted him to go ahead and divide up the baby. He handed the baby to the real mother. A deep understanding of a mother’s love helped the king make this amazing decision and illustrates his wisdom.
Thus if wisdom is a deep understanding of the human condition, then it surely can be acquired then understanding oneself and others is something than can be learnt. That is the good news. The bad news is that the majority of people do not know who they are and are unwilling to so much as understand the next person. Is it any wonder that wisdom is so scarce?
She is out there though…Wisdom is…trying hard to draw out attention…”crying out loud in the streets, at the city gate, even in the public square”…telling us to know ourselves and understand our fellow men and women…if only we would listen…