Re: About Wisdom
Namaste,
Originally Posted by
satay
How does one acquire wisdom or become wise? What makes a man 'wise'? Is it age? Is it study of religion, science, arts, life? Is it life experience and 'street smarts'? there seems to be many factors but is there a definite list that one can pursue to become 'wise'?
My opinion on this :
Let's first define what we understand by the word, wisdom :
a) It the capability to understand and explain the phenomenon which we come across
b) It is the capability to analyse a problem / situation and to find a solution for the problem/situation in hand
Now these capabilities are acquired by the following factors :
a) Ability to gather relevant information, store it and capability to retrieve the required information for further processing when required
===> This is basic intelligence which everyone of us has unless there is something wrong in our brain.
b) Ability to relate the above gathered information for taking decision in a new situation ===> This means that if the situation is similar then the solution will also be similar. So, there must be ability to find and relate to similar situation which came across in the past and be able to use the solution which was used at the time in the past.
===> This intelligence or wisdom is acquired by experience and that is why the advice of seniors is respected and sought for because they, due to their age, come across more similar situations and thus gather more experience than the junior ones.
c) Ability to take decision based on logic and not merely on the basis of experience.
===> Here the wisdom is acquired due to the sharp brain which one is born with and also by practice of using mind to take logical decisions. For taking such decisions, the first two factors are also used but the use of logic is given more importance in arriving at the best Option /Solution in a given situation.
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How does studying books, scriptures, listening to wise people help ? In all these methods of learning, the abilities to store, retrieve, analyse data and use of logic to relate the relevant data to arrive at the best solution is developed. Age does help as I stated above but it cannot be considered the best one in all situations as c) above is the best demonstration of wisdom.
OM
"Om Namo Bhagvate Vaasudevaye"
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