Are you wise?

My kids and their friends think of me as wise. I have plenty of what should i do/did I do the right thing/what could possibly go wrong conversations. My daughter says my wisdom lies in the fact that when I give advice, I neither expect it to be taken nor rub their noses in it when things turn out exactly like I said it would.

I think I’m just old, and good at seeing patterns.

I don’t think anybody is born smart, or wise. It comes from experiencing lots of things and taking away something from them, and remembering them too. Often that is the hard part.

I agree with your own answer. Wisdom is highly diversified and applicable knowledge. Being knowledgeable, or experienced alone however does not equate wisdom. Requires a type of thinking to make the best of what you know.

There’s people high in practical knowledge on one hand – ex a carpenter, plumber, or any applicator of a specific range of ‘tools’ – but there’s also people that can do the above but can also diversify and apply a lesson on any task of problem. Part of it is a choice, part a strategy of thought. Similar to making re-usable functions in programming.

I am not wise, but I have gained wisdom. There are very few people I would consider wise, but lots of people I know who have gained wisdom through life experience.

I define wisdom as the capacity to adapt. By my own definition then, yes, in all modesty, I am wise via hard experience.

“A man never reaches that dizzy height of wisdom that he can no longer be led by the nose.”
– Mark Twain’s Notebook

;)

While I do not necessarily agree with your characterization of enlightenment, I do think you paint a good picture of what wisdom ideally looks like. In light of your definition I would say there are some areas where I am wise and many others where I am woefully ignorant. I think the process of gaining wisdom is a challenging one and requires a lot of the “fearless self-inventory” advocated by twelve step programs. This is because wisdom does not come cheap, it is hard won and typically is gained only through failure.

Under your definition, which I quite like…I am on the journey.
Every day I am taught something new and I like that.

I have a bit of Yankee common sense, and decent intuition, but I am more booksmart than wise outside of a few areas.

Overall, I would say that the extent of my wisdom is that I know to play to my strengths, learn from mistakes (mine and those of others) and usually avoid being _egregiously—stupid. Whether that actually makes me wise… I’m not sure.

Hence the name AmWiser, not because I think I’m wise, but much wiser than when I was younger. From where I sit it’s good to be able to look back and say ‘been there, done that’ to the path in life that I was dealt or chose to follow. I feel that to gain wisdom is to learn from all your life’s situations.

Wiser than I once was, but a long way to go.

I don’t know what wisdom is, so I’m not wise. Something to do with life experience? But even then, I don’t know.

To say I am wise is to prove otherwise.

“In seeking wisdom thou art wise; in imagining that thou hast attained it – thou art a fool.”
—Lord Chesterfield

@psychocandy yeah – that idea comes from Socrates’s examination long before LC. I don’t necessarily agree with it, even though I see the point. I think wisdom is something graspable and something we can cultivate earlier with ways to increase critical thinking in students. Creative projects, real world challenges vs just memorizing indexable knowledge at the same rate.

thinking about this some more, I think wisdom is learned, but can’t be taught. I think it is experiential.

The ability to learn from your own or other people’s mistakes. Humility without arrogance or overconfidence.

I always joke about the ‘age of wisdom rocks’ and what a grand place it is to inhabit.

I still have miles to go on this journey, but yes, I do consider myself wise and am considered wise by my consorts.

But, I know that there is more, much more, that I do not know, yet. ;-)

Wisdom is the process of how well one assimilates past experience into usable knowledge.

My intelligence often exposes my lack of wisdom.

My wisdom often exposes my lack of intelligence.

I’m wiser than a lot of people in my particular demographic, but compared to other people who are older, no.

I am consistently amazed and humbled at the simplistic wisdom of children.

@phoebusg Who said you have to? Maybe you should reread my post.

hopefully not.

Wisdom has nothing to do with knowledge, it is all about experience.

Once the experience is gained then, and only then, does it get filtered into the vault of knowledge.

If it’s all about experience, then how do children amaze me with their simplistic wisdom? I believe it was Christ that told us to look at the world with the eyes of a child. And King Solomon offered much wisdom upon things he had no previous experience of. I also don’t believe the vault of knowledge ensures that one will automatically have wisdom to use it properly. If that were the case, we’d never make the same mistake twice. I’m a pro at that.

Could wisdom be something more?

I propose that wisdom arises when one moves beyond their own personal experience and knowledge, comparing it to the experience and knowledge of others, and weighing both with empathy, becomes better equipped to make judgments that are best for all, in present, immediate future, and most importantly, long term.

@RealEyesRealizeRealLies

Of course, from the mouths of babes, I am just saying that wisdom is not something that can be intellectulized, aside from the purity of a childlike state. ;-)

Gaining wisdom seems like a lifelong process to me. I don’t know that it can ever be fully attained.

None the wiser!!!!!!

People are always telling me I am a wise ass. Does that count???

Yes, @rooeytoo , you have raised wiseassness to the status of an artform! : D

For most of us, reaching the age of 65 without killing our fool selves, or being killed by some other fool, means that we have acquired a degree of wisdom. : )

@CaptainHarley Considering that life is moving faster overall these days (for instance, young girls are hitting puberty around 8 now instead of 13–16) I almost suspect that even making it to 35 means you have achieved wisdom.
If you make it to 65, then you are a fricking sage!

LOL @jerv

Indeed! : D

@jerv

Bowing to one of the wise one’s. lol

Well..apparently this little grasshopper has been duped again by a cat.
Yep, ya think I might have learned that my ‘problem child’ is full of tricks, after paying $150 to have his fuzzy little arse dragged out of a huge tree Friday night, what’s he do this morning, the first time I let him out in the last 36 hours?

Yep, proceeds to run up another monster tree and he is now screaming in the wind, rain, and 30 something temps.!!!!

Foolish me, thinking he might have learned his lesson.

Well kitty, maybe when it starts to snow on you you will take a leap of faith! lol

Oh brother!

@Coloma I do not expect wisdom from anything that has a brain the size of a walnut. Cats may be cute, lovable, and (occasionally) intelligent, but I have yet to see a cat that is actually wise.

No. I’m only young, and inclined as I may be at times to deem myself the pinnacle of creation the all too obvious superior experience and worldly understanding that others possess is near incomprehensible to me. But who needs wisdom when you’re one of the remaining few who knows the ancient recipe for the chocolate icing and lucky charms sandwich?

@jerv
Well…cats are wise, the true zen masters in the sense that every moment is ALL they experience. Unlike humans who are lost in thought and rarely here now. lol

4 hours later, cat just managed to come down from the tree, amazing what a little freezing rain can do to motivate a water hating creature. lol

Almost everyone in my real life would say I am as dumb as a rock, not trust worthy, and definitely not wise, but then again they don’t know the real me. I don’t really have a full understanding of either word and I refuse to use words I don’t know. So I wouldn’t call myself wise or dumb, just alive.

62% and I know people who are at 85% and people who are at 44%.

@daytonamisticrip

Sometimes the best argument for one being wise is that one is still here. : ))

No, definitely not. I think I am possibly the most stupid person currently living on this Planet why I am still here is a very good question.

Oh @gr8teful Been there, done that. Only a year or two ago, I was the stupidest person on the planet, wondering why I was still around. My office window is on the 8th floor and I stared so longingly at it, although I never stood up, except once.

This may sound really stupid (but then, remember I was once stupider than everyone on the planet), but my advice is that you try to enjoy the feeling. It is actually quite special to be so special, even in a negative way. To be way at the bottom, looking up at everyone else is a gift that not a lot of people receive. Especially so when it isn’t really true. (Pretend I didn’t say that).

But it is… or will be a great gift. For me, it was the gift of empathy. It was the ability to understand where so many other people are coming from, or what their pain is like. Later on, it is a gift to give back. You would be surprised how many people just want to be understood, even if for a moment. It is actually a tiny gift of love, and I think it matters.

I don’t say this shit for nothing. I do care about other people’s pain. There’s not much I can do about it, but I can say I understand and I have felt my own pain and we are similar in that way.

Your pain is a gift and I have no idea how that will turn out, but there is a reason you feel this pain, and I hope you’ll wait around to figure it out. It meant a lot to me that I didn’t jump.