What is wisdom?

Right?

says:
Or what?

Everything.

ruggedraven36 said:

says:
Or what?

Everything.

Explain yourself.

ruggedraven36 said:

says:
Or what?

Everything.

Yeah.

jadeheron5 said:Explain yourself.

No.

Laura Jones56 said:Yeah.

No.

I mean, seriously... what on earth happened there? 😛

jadeheron5 said:Wisdom tends to travel through the vessel of religion, doesn't it? You look at Christianity, and you have the Commandments, or those little parables—stories meant to highlight our own human failings. Then you have something like Buddhism, where the wisdom is much more of an internal journey, focusing on how one might actually find a sense of peace in this chaotic world.
There’s also this almost psychiatric quality to wisdom, isn't there? It feels healing, in a way. It exists to give people a sort of compass, helping them navigate those heavy decisions we all face eventually.

At its core, wisdom is just the art of living.

A sage has always been seen as a good person, regardless of the era or culture. So, saying wisdom has nothing to do with empathy? That’s just plain wrong.

ruggedraven36 said:A sage has always been seen as a good person, regardless of the era or culture. So, saying wisdom has nothing to do with empathy? That’s just plain wrong.

I’d argue differently... I think a wise person is simply a righteous one. You see, you can be "too good"—just purely kindhearted without any edge—but if you're just a pushover, you aren't really wise.

jadeheron5 said:I’d argue differently... I think a wise person is simply a righteous one. You see, you can be "too good"—just purely kindhearted without any edge—but if you're just a pushover, you aren't really wise.

Look, a good person doesn't necessarily have to be wise, but a wise person? They damn well better be good.

A wise person is essentially someone with enough life experience to read their surroundings correctly and make the right calls.

By that logic, wisdom is defined by how successfully you hit those evolutionary targets—stacking resources, staying alive, and passing on your genes.

So, if we follow that thread, being wise just means being successful. In that case, your average Republican local official with a four-bedroom house, three Mercedes, and two mistresses is miles ahead of Hegel.

jadeheron5 said:I’d argue differently... I think a wise person is simply a righteous one. You see, you can be "too good"—just purely kindhearted without any edge—but if you're just a pushover, you aren't really wise.

Look, you can't really be "too good," but you can definitely be naive—and honestly, people trip up on that all the time, thinking they're the same thing. Sure, there might be some overlap here and there, but let's be real, kindness and being a total pushover are two completely different animals.

Harold Doyle3 said:At its core, wisdom is just the art of living.

Yeah, exactly... if you think about it, even something like meditation—or maybe specific breathing techniques—could be considered wisdom. It’s about having that control, you know? Being able to actually influence the chemical reactions happening inside your own body. And then there's fitness, or just being mindful about what you eat... those are all forms of wisdom too.

You put that really well, kept it concise. That's the kind of wisdom we need more of. 😁

jadeheron5 said:Yeah, exactly... if you think about it, even something like meditation—or maybe specific breathing techniques—could be considered wisdom. It’s about having that control, you know? Being able to actually influence the chemical reactions happening inside your own body. And then there's fitness, or just being mindful about what you eat... those are all forms of wisdom too.

You put that really well, kept it concise. That's the kind of wisdom we need more of. 😁

But look, let's be real, those aren't "wisdom" per se; they're just things a wise person might suggest, but if being "wise" just means being pragmatic, then we might as well define a sage the same way we define a corrupt politician.

gentlerider7 said:But look, let's be real, those aren't "wisdom" per se; they're just things a wise person might suggest, but if being "wise" just means being pragmatic, then we might as well define a sage the same way we define a corrupt politician.

Wisdom can actually be quite destructive to society if it only serves the individual—that is, if someone is clever enough to live a life where they never have to feel a shred of guilt.
A perfect example would be Marshall; he could mandate socialism for the masses while spending his days smoking Cuban cigars and chasing starlets on a private yacht. Honestly, even some US Presidents have been more "socialist" in their reach than he ever was.
The problem is that wisdom often serves the self rather than the community.

It's similar to how you wouldn't call an obese man "wise" when it comes to his physical health. His own choices led him to a state of lethargy and immobility, which is clearly not the result of wise decision-making.

At its core, what people call wisdom is often just cunning—like someone playing a game to win.

The issue here—and I think this is why people get so confused—is that nowadays, everyone seems to be pushing this version of religious, "positive" wisdom. It’s all sunshine and rainbows, right? So people look at that and think, "Well, that’s all there is." But then you actually sit down with Sun Tzu’s *The Art of War*, which is packed with its own kind of profound insight, or you look at how the Romans handled every single barbarian tribe that came their way with such calculated wisdom 😁
It's that old classic concept, isn't it? Bread and circuses... just feed them and distract them, and you can rule the roost

bluemason3 said:A wise person is essentially someone with enough life experience to read their surroundings correctly and make the right calls.

By that logic, wisdom is defined by how successfully you hit those evolutionary targets—stacking resources, staying alive, and passing on your genes.

So, if we follow that thread, being wise just means being successful. In that case, your average Republican local official with a four-bedroom house, three Mercedes, and two mistresses is miles ahead of Hegel.

By those evolutionary standards, jellyfish would be geniuses... even without brains. And flies are pretty damn smart too...

Zachary White19 said:By those evolutionary standards, jellyfish would be geniuses... even without brains. And flies are pretty damn smart too...

It depends on whether you're looking at the species as a whole or the individuals within it. A fly that manages to outsmart the rest? That’s just a smart fly.

bluemason3 said:It depends on whether you're looking at the species as a whole or the individuals within it. A fly that manages to outsmart the rest? That’s just a smart fly.

If we're going by evolutionary logic, you could compare a Fox News viewer to a jellyfish and try to figure out who's smarter, but I don't think that gets you anywhere... Not sure that's really wisdom. Maybe try comparing a rock to a Fox News viewer instead. Is the rock wiser? What can a Fox News viewer even do to a rock?

ruggedraven36 said:A sage has always been seen as a good person, regardless of the era or culture. So, saying wisdom has nothing to do with empathy? That’s just plain wrong.

Hardly.

We should probably start by defining what wisdom isn't. It certainly isn't drawing connections where none exist, nor is it failing to see connections that clearly do. People tend to trip over both mistakes. As for what wisdom actually *is*, we can't even begin to discuss it until we agree on a definition—which, let’s be honest, is nearly impossible. Some link it to knowledge and deep insight, others to ethics, and so on. Let everyone hold their own opinion; there's no point splitting hairs when we already know we won't reach an agreement and will just end up shouting our own monologues at each other.

Zachary White19 said:If we're going by evolutionary logic, you could compare a Fox News viewer to a jellyfish and try to figure out who's smarter, but I don't think that gets you anywhere... Not sure that's really wisdom. Maybe try comparing a rock to a Fox News viewer instead. Is the rock wiser? What can a Fox News viewer even do to a rock?

There's really no point in comparing different species, let alone comparing inanimate objects to living things.

A person who is too dim to survive is definitely not wise.