Defining Wisdom

Any exploration of the wise and the foolish surely first demands a definition of just what we mean by “wisdom”. After all, wisdom is something to which everyone lays claim.

Here’s a digest and interpretation:

The term “wisdom” is variously defined in dictionaries. Some explain wisdom only by enumerating the acquired or innate human qualities that the word encapsulates. For example, the Oxford English dictionary declares wisdom to be: “The quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement”. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: “ability to discern inner qualities and relationships, (or) good sense”, while the American Heritage Dictionary defines it as: “The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting.”

Other sources couple action to such qualities. The Collins dictionary says it is: “the ability to use your experience and knowledge in order to make sensible decisions or judgments”. Dictionary.com defines wisdom as: “…knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” Perhaps most succinctly, the Macmillan dictionary defines wisdom as: “the ability to make good decisions based on knowledge and experience”.

Wisdom has also long been the subject of scientific inquiry. The book: The Scientific Study of Personal Wisdom, (Michel Ferrari and Nic M. Weststrate) collects a range of this scientific research and serves to illustrate the diversity of thought around the topic. The editors divide the book into four sections representing distinct perspectives in scientific thought and research on wisdom, and these themes are instructive:

The first grounds the understanding of wisdom within the cognitive sciences, seeing wisdom as an “enhancement of cognition which incorporates relevance.” Wisdom may simply grow from the memory of profound life experiences or may have a neurobiological basis, indicating that certain brain systems enable the expression of wise traits. Essentially, this thinking posits that the ability to think wisely is an innate capability of the human mind, (whether used by the individual or not.)

A second section of the book explores how contextual factors impact the development of wisdom, seeing it as a “real-life process” that involves the integration of often conflicting ideas. Here, perspectives are delivered that emphasize the importance of cultural, master narratives of wisdom, including religion and spirituality, or cultural influence. This is the idea that wisdom is something that is passed down through generations.

The third section focuses on the transcendent and contemplative qualities of wisdom such as are embodied within Buddhism, Sufism, and mystical Christianity. Noted in this section are the inherent paradoxes of wisdom that make it “difficult to conceptualize and measure with rigor.” Here, wisdom is seen as originating outside the realm of humanity.

Clearly, wisdom doesn’t come about merely by being tossed around by a Kansas cyclone.

Remarkably, the final section of this scientific compendium offers an entreaty to actively cultivate wisdom rather than merely seeking to understand it. It even advocates for re-envisioning the mission of higher education around wisdom inquiry, not merely knowledge acquisition, suggesting that students should leave university not just informed on select topics, but wiser.

Quite so.

These various definitions and scientific perspectives serve both to capture essential elements of wisdom and to highlight its multi-factored complexity. Yet, despite the thoughtfulness of these explications, I think a simple analogy distills the action and impact of wisdom in a more concrete and accessible way:

Think of a connect-the-dots puzzle, the type that family restaurants print on paper placemats to keep children busy while waiting for their food. The child draws lines to connect numbered dots printed on the placemat and, when connected in proper order, the picture of a monkey emerges to the delight of the child.

I suggest that wisdom is the ability to perceive the picture that a situation’s dots represent in advance of lines being drawn. Whatever neurobiological, sociological, or metaphysical basis it may have, in practical terms wisdom is the capacity to recognize the patterns that lead to good ends or to bad ends. That is a capability gained only through absorbing history’s lessons and through long personal experience married to objective reasoning. The wise are able to perceive patterns in the world and the outcomes that those patterns portend because they’ve connected the dots of a lot of pictures over time and can see how they fit together. They have seen many similar examples directly and through allegories- patterns in behavior, in sequences of events, in broad trends, and more. The wise are thus able to act upon their understanding of where things are headed in time to avoid bad ends or to produce good ones.

By contrast, and like the child in the restaurant, the unwise simply can’t connect situational dots to see the picture in advance. They either lack sufficient exposure to the patterns of wisdom (are naïve) or simply refuse to believe their eyes and instead connect the dots in whatever way paints the picture of their presuppositions or imaginings. They are blind, or blind themselves, to the real shape of things and often try to blind others to the obvious as well. In turn, they act too late to avoid bad outcomes or behave in a fashion that actually exacerbates those outcomes. This is the opposite of wisdom: foolishness.

Still, wisdom can be acquired with the right approach. The naïve (say, a little girl from Kansas for example), can acquire wisdom through stories, examples, the instruction of elders, and through mounting experience, so long as her digestion of these things is driven by reason not emotion. That is the mistake of fools who, in search of emotional comfort, run away from the discomforting obligations of wise action. Instead of following the dots, they draw whatever picture affirms their foolish presuppositions right over the obvious dots below. And if wiser people can still perceive the monkey’s pattern beneath their scribblings, the foolish are inclined to grab a fist full of crayons to blackout the picture entirely to prevent correction. Media, politics, and popular culture are the crayons of our foolish age.

Yet, whether or not one is able or is willing to perceive it, the monkey is right there on the paper. Wisdom lets you mentally connect the dots of situations to see how things really fit together, and that insight empowers you to take actions that will lead to better ends.

But wisdom does not come easily, and you might want a guide.

How about a wise, aerial simian?