Everything about Wisdom totally explained
Wisdom is having gained
knowledge,
understanding,
experience, discretion, and
intuitive understanding, along with a capacity to apply these qualities well. It is the judicious application of knowledge. To some extent the terms wisdom and
intelligence have similar and overlapping meanings. The status of wisdom or
prudence as a
virtue is recognized in
cultural,
philosophical and
religious sources.
Psychological perspectives
Psychologists have gathered data on commonly held beliefs or folk theories about wisdom.
These analyses indicate that although "there is an overlap of the implicit theory of wisdom with intelligence, perceptiveness, spirituality and shrewdness, it's evident that wisdom is a distinct term and not a composite of other terms."
Erik Erikson
Personality theorist
Erik Erikson related wisdom to the last stage of his eight-stage theory of psychosocial development. Erikson's theory spans the entire lifespan and frames each stage in the form of internally-generated questions or tensions. Erikson claimed that in the last stage of human development, from approximately 65 years to death, individuals must resolve a psychological conflict between integrity and despair. He proposed that attaining wisdom is a favorable resolution and product of this conflict.
Vivian Clayton
In the 1970s, Vivian Clayton pioneered the academic study of wisdom. Clayton "is generally recognized as the first psychologist to ask, in even faintly scientific terms, 'What does wisdom mean, and how does age affect it?'" Clayton's work caught the attention of
Paul Baltes, who later founded the Berlin Wisdom Project at the
Max Planck Institute for Human Development in
Berlin,
Germany. Another wisdom researcher,
sociologist Monika Ardelt, has developed a
"Three-Dimensional Wisdom Scale"
, a test that individuals can take for a numerical assessment of their wisdom on a scale of one to five. The number of academic publications about wisdom increased significantly from 1984 to 2000. Nevertheless, according to Jacqui Smith, one of Baltes's collaborators, the subject isn't completely accepted in academia.
Positive psychology
Researchers in
positive psychology have defined wisdom (a.k.a.
psychological perspective) as the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve well being." With this definition, wisdom can be measured using the following criteria.
Many, but not all, studies find that adults' self-ratings of perspective/wisdom don't depend on age. This stands in contrast to the popular notion that wisdom increases with age.
He who leads others by nonviolence, righteously and equitably, is indeed a guardian of justice, wise and righteous.
One isn't wise merely because he talks much. But he who is calm, free from hatred and fear, is verily called a wise man.
By quietude alone one doesn't become a sage (muni) if he's foolish and ignorant. But he who, as if holding a pair of scales, takes the good and shuns the evil, is a wise man; he's indeed a muni by that very reason. He who understands both good and evil as they really are, is called a true sage.
In Taoism Practical Wisdom may be described as knowing what to say and when to say it.
Other religions
In Mesopotamian religion and mythology, Enki, also known as Ea, was the God of wisdom and intelligence. Wisdom was achieved by restoring balance.
In Norse mythology, the god Odin is especially known for his wisdom, often acquired through various hardships and ordeals involving pain and self-sacrifice. In one instance he plucked out an eye and offered it to Mímir, guardian of the well of knowledge and wisdom, in return for a drink from the well.
In another famous account, Odin hanged himself for nine nights from Yggdrasil, the World Tree that unites all the realms of existence, suffering from hunger and thirst and finally wounding himself with a spear until he gained the knowledge of runes for use in casting powerful magic. He was also able to acquire the mead of poetry from the giants, a drink of which could grant the power of a scholar or poet, for the benefit of gods and mortals alike.
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