Wisdom

Wisdom is the ability to make correct judgments and decisions. Some think it is an intangible quality gained through experience. Yet others think it is a quality that even a child, otherwise immature, may possess independent of experience or complete knowledge. Whether or not something is wise is determined in a pragmatic sense by its popularity, how long it has been around, and its ability to predict against future events. Wisdom is also accepted from cultural, philosophical and religious sources. Some think of wisdom as foreseeing consequences and acting to maximize beneficial results.

Many modern authorities on government, religion and philosophical ethics say that wisdom connotes an enlightened perspective. This perspective is sometimes defined in a utilitarian way, as effective support for the long-term common good.

Wisdom and philosophy
A standard philosophical definition says that wisdom consists of making the best use of available knowledge. As with all decisions, a wise decision may be made with incomplete information. The technical philosophical term for the opposite of wisdom is folly.

In his Metaphysics, Aristotle defines wisdom as knowledge of causes: why things are the way they are.

Sources of wisdom
Beyond the simple expedient of experience (Which may be considered the most difficult way to gain wisdom as through the "school of hard knocks"), there are a variety of other avenues to gaining wisdom which vary according to different philosophies. For example, Freethinkers and others believe that wisdom may come from pure reason and perhaps experience, while others believe that it comes from intuition or spirituality.


 * Traditional western culture associates wisdom with virtue. For example, in the Roman Catholic church, wisdom (Prudence) stands with justice, fortitude and moderation as one of the four cardinal virtues. They are outlined in the book of Wisdom 8:7. These virtues are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture.


 * Holists believe that wise people sense, work with and align themselves and others to life. In this view, wise people help others appreciate the fundamental interconnectedness of life.

In the Christian Bible, for example, there are three wise men sent by God to give the newly born Jesus three gifts.
 * Some religions hold that wisdom may be given as a gift from God.


 * The seventh verse of the first chapter of the Jewish book of Proverbs in the Old Testament states "Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7). The beginning of fear of God is hating evil, the ways of evil, arrogance, pride and a duplicitous mouth (Proverbs).


 * Confucius stated that wisdom can be learned by three methods: reflection (The noblest), imitation (The easiest) and experience (The bitterest).


 * Buddha taught that a wise person is endowed with good bodily conduct, good verbal conduct & good mental conduct (AN3:2) and a wise person does actions that are unpleasant to do but give good results and doesn’t do actions that are pleasant to do but give bad results (AN4:115).

Practical WISDOM may be described as: Knowing what to say & when to say it. TAO