What our world needs, and what we need, particularly as we grow older, is a sense of wisdom. Paul Baltes of the Max Planck Institute in Berlin has spent his life investigating wisdom. He defines wisdom as "a state of knowledge about the human condition, about how it comes about, which factors shape it, how one deals with difficult problems, and how one organizes one's life in such a manner that when we are old, we judge it to be meaningful."
The essence of wisdom is in knowing what you don't know, in the appreciation that knowledge is fallible. It's the balance between knowing and doubting. "Wise" action involves the way in which you hold knowledge and put it to use. A "wise" decision implies a "best" solution – a value-laden judgment. It tries to understand the ultimate consequences of events in a holistic, systemic way. Wisdom brings together your experience, ability to think, and emotional maturity to make good decisions at an individual and societal level. Wisdom enables a person to adapt to the tasks of everyday life. It's about getting pleasure from health, satisfaction from work, and good use out of wealth.
But wisdom is also what will enable us to deal with the increasingly complex problems facing humanity. Wisdom isn't simply for wise people, philosophers, and psychologists. It's for all people and for the future of the world.
Most of today's most influential thinkers believe that wisdom accumulates with age. And while research indicates that some mental functioning like memory may decline with advanced age, wisdom can still flourish apart from other mental functions. Research also confirms that most wise individuals don't think of themselves as possessing any special powers of wisdom. The more they learn, the less they know for certain.
But wisdom isn't something that happens automatically as the result of age. Hard-won self-knowledge is an essential source of wisdom. Wisdom grows only through accepting your life as the life that had to be and is the product of resolve – resolving the issues of the past combined with tolerance toward your own family past and your choices. It combines an emotional integration of the past, a philosophical attitude toward life, and acceptance of your own mortality without despair.
Said F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function." The "wiser" we become, the more paradox we find. And yet we must continue to live in this world and make our way through this paradox.
Generally, wise persons are thought to project the consequences of a decision far into the future: "I will plant seeds to grow in springs I will not see." To be wise is to have an orientation in time that examines the past for relevant knowledge, experience, and precedent; that examines the present context of the problem to be solved; and that projects into the future the long-range effects.
Wise people recognize their own limitations and the limitations of life. But they also see possibilities and hope.
Author and Credits: Susan V. Bosak - Legacy Project