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True Wisdom -- Writer's Poke #202

Does wisdom come with age?

Not necessarily, but perhaps that takes years to discover. Young people can have confidence, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have wisdom. In fact, confidence and wisdom might be opposites, for if you think you know everything, as young people sometimes do, then you don't have wisdom.

Wisdom and humility, on the other hand, seem to go together. Wise people call on their experiences, and they call on their knowledge, but they also recognize when knowledge and experience aren't enough. Knowledge and experience, then, are not synonyms for wisdom.

What is wisdom, and how do you know if someone is wise?

"I do not think I know what I do not know." -- Socrates

Comments

  1. Someone is said to have said something along the lines of the following:

    "Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge correctly".

    If he said who is to judge what is correct, I do not know what he said about that.

    Where does intelligence fit into that scheme? Do we need intelligence to acquire knowledge? If so is it the kind of intelligence that can be measured by a normal IQ test? I am aware that many Mensa members "whine" about how their intelligence has not been recognized and properly rewarded. But maybe they merely lack wisdom. Or maybe they merely have not acquired knowledge in the right areas.

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