Development of wisdom can take a lifetime

Someone once said that smart people and wise people both know a lot. But wise people also know that there is a lot they don’t know.

Let’s look at few quotations about wisdom:

Henry David Thoreau:
It is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things.

Immanuel Kant:
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

Martin Fischer:
Knowledge is a process of piling up facts; wisdom lies in their simplification.

Mohandas Gandhi:
It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.

Most authorities agree that wisdom develops over time. Wise people display good judgment and are skilled in their ability to learn from mistakes. They make sound choices and good decisions.

Learning from past mistakes often includes admitting errors, which is also a hallmark of wisdom.

Other authorities on aging recognize and label wisdom as practical – a skill that helps solve real human problems.

Wise people do not attribute success or failure to fate, but instead look for patterns and cause and effect relationships that give them clues to future remedial action.

Other characteristics of wise people include:

• Being empathic, understanding and caring. Wisdom becomes practical when it is useful and is used to help others.

• Insightful and intuitive. Wise people possess more self-understanding than the average individual.

• Not being bound to seek strictly right or wrong answers. Instead a wise person can tolerate ambiguity as knowledge about life expands.

Another interesting aspect of wisdom is its development:

• Wisdom develops through the acquisition of knowledge and experience.

• Wise people are often described as having finely developed skills in logic, reason and perceptiveness.

• The feelings that accompany the wise person’s experiences contribute to his or her wisdom. Having one’s views challenged and being able to examine opposing points of view contributes to the development of wisdom.

Although the acquisition of wisdom does not automatically accompany age, most wise individuals are in their second half of life.

One final interesting thought about wisdom is that older people, in comparison to their younger cohorts, are less likely to directly link wisdom with old age.

Perhaps this is another example of their wisdom.