If education is a requirement for wisdom, how much education? How much knowledge? How many skills? What about life experiences? Age? How do we know if we or others have wisdom? While we're at it we might as well throw in "enlightenment." What's the difference between wisdom and enlightenment? Which one is greater/better?
Main question: How do you define wisdom and enlightenment?
Wisdom is the knowledge gained mainly by having many experiences in life. Enlightenment refers to understanding and enabling clarity of perception.
Very enticing question, dear John! Below are 2 threads carrying a possible answer!
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_wisdom_be_meaningful_without_knowledge_or_knowledge_without_wisdom
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_knowledge_come_with_age_And_why
How very interesting, John! Thank you for this question.
I believe that , in terms of wisdom, age and experience is most important than anything else.
Kind regards and best enlighted wishes for the new 2015.
Confucius, as old as eternity, gives us some bright answers:
The gentleman is judged wise by a single word he utters; equally, he is judged foolish by a single word he utters. (The Analects, XIX.25)
THE WISE FIND JOY IN WATER; THE BENEVOLENT FIND JOY IN MOUNTAINS (VI.23)
PS - Dear John, if educastion means knowing Confucius, than education means wisdom.
Kind regards, Maria
Dear John,
The dictionary defines wisdom as “the ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.” Knowledge, on the other hand, is defined as having information through experience, reasoning, learning or acquaintance. Wisdom comes with age and it is gathered over time.
Dear Mahfuz, thank you for sharing your knowledge with your wise comment. That's how I define wisdom.
Dear friend Marwan, my apologies for duplicating a question you have already asked. Thank you for including the two links. They're very useful. I agree with the dictionary definition of wisdom "the ability to judge what is true, right, or lasting." But I think it is something more; what that something is I can't quite put my finger on, or should I say put my brain on.
Maria, thank you!! A question without Maria is like a kiss without a hug! So, according to Maria and Barbara all we have to do to become wise and enlightened is read Confusion . . . I mean Confucius . . . and Socrates. Sounds easy enough! I'm just kidding, ladies! :D ;)
Best to all,
John
Wisdom requires knowledge and experience in various ways of life. A wise one always old one in age because he/she has to make the right decision.
Thank you a lot for your warmful hug, John. It reached Portugal, a few hours before we enter 2015.
Dear Kamal, to me, you wear the crown of a king of knowledge and experience!
Wisdom is the ability, developed through experience, insight and reflection, to discern truth and exercise good judgment. Wisdom is sometimes conceptualized as an especially well developed form of common sense.
Enlightenment is knowing the truth by removing the false notions with the help of self effort through learning. It is the result of removal of darkness by going towards Light.
It's just like the difference between Wisdom and Knowledge.
Dear @John, there are many good answers at this thread which is related to this one! Happy New Year!
https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_knowledge_leads_to_wisdom
My dear friends, hope this are good resources about the WISDOM!
Article Wisdom and Learning from Important and Meaningful Life Experiences
Dear Jeanan,
Thank you for joining the conversation with your knowledge, wisdom, and Light!
We can always depend on our dear friend Jeanan to contribute profoundly to our discussions.
Jeanan, you've added some key concepts that I was seeking to understand wisdom, that missing "something." I especially like "insight and reflection" (especially reflection) since without these knowledge/experience remain stagnating, unused in the mind, serving no purpose, like treasures in a safe in contrast to treasures on display for all to learn from/enjoy. I think "discern truth and exercise good judgment" adds a lot to our understanding of wisdom. And my favorite is "especially well developed form of common sense" because the term was floating around in my empty brain but I just didn't know where to place it. I've always thought that a little knowledge with a little common sense is better than a lot of knowledge with no common sense. (What do you all think of that statement?)
Your concept of enlightenment is great since you include the root word "light". A function of enlightenment, in my unenlightened opinion, is to contemplate the wisdom of others and incorporate all that is pertinent into one's world view.
Best regards,
John
Dear Jubie (my personal nickname for you since I have no idea how to pronounce an L and j together in Ljubomir!) :)
Thanks so much for the useful links! Regarding the link to the RG question that is similar to mine, I should have checked previous posts to avoid duplication. On the other hand, here we have a discussion with the best sub-group, the closest "family" on RG. I'm a grateful apprentice among the wise and enlightened.
Nobody had opened a Handbook of Wisdom! If someone had, please let me know!
Ljubomir's attached PDF, A Handbook of Wisdom, is a great contribution for pondering the concept of wisdom. It's only about 30 pages but contains a wealth of information. There's also a bibliography with about a zillion references--give or take a few.
Dear all, happy and prosperous new year 2015. Education allows some knowledge, a set of general, technical, practical information and data useful for the professional and/or daily life. Experience is gained with the practice of some of these data, experience adds knowledge to the one gained from education. The age could be a factor to some experienced knowledge. The age is not an objective factor of good or bad experience without real education and real practice in social or professional life.
Wisdom is the ability to discern the good and the bad, the real and the false, i.e the truth. It is a logical reasoning ability based on the knowledge (educated, experimented, and some external information), added to the personal psychology of the person. A good person is more able to discern the true, a bad one is more able to choose the wrong way, even with same amount of knowledge and intelligence.
The enlightenment is an inner source of light from ones soul, some call it intuition. Others call it God's will. It is the light of the creation that grows with us from the birth to the dead
"From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own." ~ Publilius Syrus
Dear @Roland, it is like Socrates: “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” I like this one: “The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.” ― Isaac Asimov
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/wisdom
Dear Ljubomir!
Thank you for your wisdom! It's good to be fortunate to be in touch with the wise.
I would think that the LJ would sound a bit like Li, in your name, or as the Lh in Portuguese, or LL in spanish... Anyway, this alphabetic order doesn't follow the geographical order, and spelling the names of Welsh Towns would bring much more difficulty...
(try thinking of "como te llamas?", dear John. (or "como te chamas", for me)
Wisdom is to understand what is life, It's is the key to open all the locked doors.
My dear friend Kamal I wish I could give you a thousand up votes for your comment with which I most profoundly agree!
My dear friend John,
I wish I could give your answer another million up votes! The only wisdom which is perfect is heavenly! Can wisdom be mundane?
Much appreciation to my dear friends Kamal and Marwan for their valuable and profound insight. It is, I must confess, something I had not considered--the heavenly or spiritual link to wisdom/enlightenment. It's a perspective I will enjoy thinking about--and meditating upon!
This group we have is an inspiration and a delight. Dear Marwan and Kamal inspired the following, just a thought, perhaps mundane and not wise:
Knowledge is a door to the world. Wisdom rains down on knowledge from the heavens. Knowledge and wisdom soar to the heavens and become enlightenment. (Is that corny?)
I have so many wise friends here. To them, the following quote is dedicated! It is so nice to ave you for friends!
http://qqq.quotepixel.com/picture/friendship/page/62
That is wise, dear Ljubomir.
Nevertheless, I prefer a humble friend, than a great enemy.
Wisdom is full, contributing, and happy living,
whereas
Education shows the light towards Wisdom
Fine ZEN proverb about education and wisdom!
https://www.pinterest.com/explore/buddhism-beliefs/
In common language, we often mix the concepts of intelligence, knowledge, understanding, and wisdom as well as their relationship with education. In my recent book (attached), pages 22-26, I have tried to define these topics. Intelligence is needed to process information. Information presents data in a systematic way to yield order and meaning. Data consists of facts, observations, or measures that have been recorded. Knowledge emerges when information is understood, i.e. knowledge is bound to the available information. Therefore, obviously the correctness of any knowledge cannot be better than that of the original data and information. The book discusses wisdom as a personal pattern of our choices for actions in relation to our own needs and the demands of our environment. Wisdom has not been a scientific topic, even though many philosophers have contemplated on it and some esoteric disciplines have provided education on it. Success in learning wisdom is sometimes called enlightenment. It is clear that humans are not short of knowledge as manifested by our ability to develop all kinds of technologies and institutions. Probably there is a shortage of wisdom because we have not been able to provide a decent living for everyone.
Book Missing a Decent Living for Everyone: Success and Failure in...
Application of Knowledge
“If you want to meet a princess, make yourself into a prince.” – Rabbi Dov Heller, Aish LA
Be kind for the frog, give him all your love and he will turn into a beautiful prince - The Brothers Grimm
Wisdom is the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense, and insight.- Harpercollins, 2014
Moldoveanu, M. (2002). Organizational epistemology. Ontario, Canada: Rorman School of Management, University of Toronto. ,
for each level there will be differences in the following:
• Nature of beliefs
• Means-Ends relationship
• World ontology
• Problems: ignorance, conflicts, ambiguities
• Processes: generation, selection, refutation, and revision
• Impacts and consequences
Is it wise to respond to a question that is 4 years old? Are questions separate from the questioner?
Wisdom is domain and context specific. The wisdom of an elder statesman (okay, statesperson) is different from the wisdom of an elder scientist who has seen controversies and rivalries come and go. And these in turn are different from the wisdom of an illiterate peasant without formal education who has vast local knowledge and experience.
@ Stanley Wilkin, RE: "Is it wise to respond to a question that is 4 years old? Are questions separate from the questioner?"
Yes and maybe, I guess. A response seems to be what's expected since the question was in my sidebar list of Questions and discussions matching your expertise.
Asking what it is really.
If you look at wisdom literature from the ancient world it is not vastly different from what would be considered wisdom nowadays. It is bound by genre.
Science transformed into wisdom is therefore a genre.
People often equate wisdom with intelligence or being knowledgeable; but all too often, it becomes apparent that being intelligent and being wise are quite different things. The world is full of brilliant people who intellectualise without really understanding the essence of things. In contrast, wise people try to grasp the deeper meaning of what is known and strive to better understand the limits of their knowledge.
Wisdom implies more than merely being able to process information in a logical way. Knowledge becomes wisdom when we have the ability to assimilate and apply this knowledge to make the right decisions. As the saying goes, ‘knowledge speaks but wisdom listens’. Wise people are blessed with good judgement. In addition, they possess the qualities of sincerity and authenticity, the former implying a willingness to say what you mean, the latter to be what you are...
Read more at https://knowledge.insead.edu/blog/insead-blog/why-wisdom-cant-be-taught-6456#SC7IYDKM5Kc8UEfT.99
Wisdom is the efficient application of knowledge in making rational decisions that bring far-reaching benefits. Knowledge earned from education, both formal and informal is the key architect of wisdom.
Dickson Adom
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