What is wisdom and how do you foster it within yourself and society?
An essay by Matt Ready
What is wisdom and how do you foster it within yourself and society?
My answer is here in my summation of the purpose of The Wisdom Forum.
Since the emergence of consciousness, a battle has been waged upon the geography of the human condition. This battle, this struggle has been between two eternal foes. It is not God vs. Satan, it is not even good vs. evil, but rather it is Wisdom vs. Folly.
Perhaps the easiest way to explain what I mean by Wisdom and Folly is by using a problem-solving example.
Let’s suppose there is a space ship waiting to be launched. Lot’s and lots of people are eager and waiting for this ship to launch, for it is expected to be a spectacular event. Now let’s suppose on the morning of its long awaited launch, an engineer notices that ice has formed on many of the space ship’s vital components.
This engineer has gone to school many years studying the science of rocketry and has learned that ice is an extremely unpredictable variable in relation to launching space ships successfully. So this engineer goes to the person in charge and says, “We should delay this launch because there is ice on the rocket engine. I am not comfortable with launching the spaceship under these conditions. It might explode (and kill everyone on board).”
The “person in charge” responds to the engineer, “Oh you are so paranoid. Lot’s of people are eagerly awaiting this launch. We are going to launch it anyways. After all you aren’t certain it will explode right?” The person in charge then gives the go ahead for launch. The person in charge bases this decision upon 0 years of studying the science of rocketry and many years of being a person who ignores the advice of snobby academics other so called experts who claim to know “everything”.
The result? The space shuttle explodes shortly after launch due to leaking via a frozen rubber seal.
In this story, I see two forces at work: Wisdom and Folly. The engineer possessed more insight into the state of that space ship. He or she possessed greater wisdom in this debate. The person in charge didn’t really know much of anything about space ships compared to the engineer. He was simply the person put in charge. In this scenario, folly won the debate, but obviously everyone lost the day.
Now simply because the engineer had more knowledge than the person in charge does that mean the engineer is “wiser” than the person in charge in all matters? No. The engineer may very well be a dimwit when it comes to many subjects and many types of problems. For instance, perhaps if that engineer had better communication skills he could have convinced the person in charge to delay. He could have gone to the media or done some other extreme measure to try and save the lives of the crew.
In every decision, in every example of problem solving, wisdom and folly are players. It is not the case that one side is always the side of total wisdom and the other is always the side of total folly. Wisdom and folly are always players on both sides.
Navigating through life is like navigating through a thick fog. You are constantly seeking the wisest possible path…for that will take you to the most desirable life imaginable. But finding your way towards wisdom demands immense amounts of effort and courage. You are constantly tempted by fear and laziness to take shortcuts and to simply rest (or escape). Yet, if you give in to fear and laziness you will not get to where you want to go. You will be moving aimlessly and very well could end up crashing upon rocks to the detriment of your life and the lives of others.
In the story of the space ship above, (which is only a rough approximation of what I understand occurred to the Space Shuttle Challenger), the person in charge did not want to be a fool. If there was no pressure on him to get the launch going, then he most likely would have been totally fine waiting for the engineer to tell him when it was ideal conditions. The person in charge probably knew he was being a little reckless not heeding the warning of someone who had far greater depth of knowledge about the situation. The person in charge probably was not saying to himself or herself, “I know more about launching space ships successfully then that engineer…he is a fool…I know everything…everyone else is an idiot regardless of how many years of ‘learning’.” If he was saying that, then the person in charge was a total fool. But I like to believe complete dolts are rare.
The person in charge probably had a voice in his head that was worried.
Why then did the person in charge not stop and delay the launch? It can only be one of two things, the two things that always are the impetus behind acts of foolishness: fear or laziness. The person in charge was either afraid of upsetting his superiors or simply too lazy to put up with further delays. He may very well have simply been tired of waiting and wanted to get the darned launch over with.
And again, we cannot claim the engineer was a perfect champion of wisdom. For what stopped that engineer from making more noise, demanding to be listened too, insisting the conditions were too dangerous to launch, and threatening to go to the media or throw a fit if they carried forth the launch? In hindsight it is easy to say such acts would have been heroic and acclaimed. But the engineer had to make his decision without certain knowledge the space shuttle would explode. The engineer was standing alone with nothing but his own knowledge and mind to rely upon… Everyone around him signed off on the launch…to stand alone would have demanded tremendous courage and strength. In the end, he did not have it.
In the end, the engineer was standing alone, everyone around him was against him, and the engineer had nothing but his own mind and knowledge to stand upon. This same exact situation has often been repeated in the human history, as wisdom and folly have struggled against one another. The side of folly often has much company. The side of wisdom must have the courage and strength to stand alone…
This same story of the struggle between wisdom and folly plays out around every problem individual humans and human society ever attempts to resolve. It is a struggle that will never end. Yet, if we are to live happy lives and help create the world we want, then we must participate in this struggle, and try to help wisdom prevail. Everyone does want the same thing. We all do want to be fighting for the wisest possible solutions. All of us, unless we are demented, want to live in a world where everyone is happy. We are all simply searching for the wisest possible path to take us to toward that world.
How does wisdom win over folly?
There is only one way to help foster and uncover the wisdom that will truly be the best solution to our problem. Wisdom cannot be written upon blocks of stone and pounded into the minds of our young. It cannot be repeated and memorized as the absolute words of truth. Neither stone nor words are strong and infinite enough to truly contain wisdom. Wisdom can only be gleamed through the honest searching of conscious minds. There is but one way for a conscious mind to find its way through the fog toward greater wisdom…it must search…it must observe…it must listen…and it must judge.
No single mind can tell another what wisdom is, for it always appears a little differently depending upon where you stand. If I may wax poetic, it is like we all look upon a beautiful statue. We may all use different words to describe it…we may all only see part of it at one time…yet it is the same statue…it is the same wisdom we are trying to understand and find.
We cannot tell each other what wisdom is, even if you truly possess some wisdom, you cannot simply tell someone, this is wisdom, take it or leave it. That will never help them. We each must find it on our own through our own conscious searching. But we can help each other find our way. We can learn from each other.
Like sailors upon rafts we can call out to one another and describe life as we see it from our perspective. We can share stories of what we have seen and what we have learned, and sometimes we may be able to gleam valuable knowledge from the stories of others. It may not even be the knowledge the other was trying to convey…
The way humans help each other gain greater wisdom is through honest, open, and patient communication. You must listen and learn from others just as you must listen and learn from all of life. Share what you hear, share what you see, and help each other appreciate as much of wisdom as you can. That is true communication. All parties honestly trying to learn…all parties listening to what is said…trying to find a common vocabulary…and common ground. So upon that common ground even greater wisdom can be built to the benefit of all.
The Wisdom Forum is a place I have made to help fulfill this goal. I hope you will join me here so we may learn from each other, exchange ideas, try to uncover the most important problems and find the wisest of all possible solutions.
If you are willing, I hope you will begin by telling me about yourself. I have many questions for you.
To begin with:
Matt's Questions of Personal Wisdom 1: General Questions
Are you happy?
What is most important to you?
What brings you the greatest joy?
What causes you the greatest pain?
What are your greatest loves? First, Second, Third?
What do you do? Describe some typical days in your life.
(click here to respond)
Matt's Questions of Personal Wisdom 2: Politics and Government
What country do you live in?
Are you happy?
Are you happy with the way life is in your country?
Do you believe your country has the best possible government structure?
Do you believe all people in your country are equal?
Do you believe all people in your country have an acceptable opportunity to live a happy life?
If you had the power to change the laws or fundamental structure of your country, would you?
What changes would you make?
What if anything do you do now to influence the state of your country or the world at large?
Are you willing to discuss your ideas with the other members of this forum in the hope that we can all converge upon a single unified vision to improving our countries and the world?
Are you willing to listen to thoughtful questions and challenges to your ideas and take the time to respond until mutual understanding can be reached?
(Click here to respond)
I look forward to our discussion.
