How do you live your Life? What have you done in your Life? Did you strive hard enough to make the best of you? Have you ever think and ponder what do you actually want in your Life? These has been in my thoughts for a long time. I am still thinking that I have not brought out the best in me. There are so many things to be done in my Life and there so many things I would like to change. Have you ever thought that you needed to change something in your life? What kind of changes are you thinking about? Am I living in Wisdom and understanding, now?
So, what is Wisdom? According to the dictionary, it says 'the quality of being wise; the ability to make sensible decisions and judgments because of your knowledge or experiense'. Philosophies say that Wisdom consists of making the best use of available knowledge. While Aristotle defines Wisdom as knowledge of causes : why things exist in a particular fashion. I think that basically Wisdom is the accumulation of knowledge and one's life experience which enable one to make some sensible decisions.
From the beginning of time man has been trying to make sense of himself and his own world. Therefore there are questions like Who am I? Why am I here? He has been seeking for an understanding. But as time goes by, I think man is not getting the understanding he seeks, so, therefore he is not happy, and he has not been able to conquer his own being. That is why many of us are complaining about Life including myself. So, what is wrong here? With all the great minds and thinking that have gone before us, with all the lessons of history left for us to examine, it is difficult to imagine why we are not further along than we are. Why are we still asking the same questions in our search for meaning? Do we not yet have enough information available to us?
We are living in a world with more information than we can digest. There are so many irrelavant information that we do not need. So, what are we actually doing with this information? Is this information doing us any good? Are we living happier lives without experiencing problems? Are our decisions better than ever? Are we being Wiser? We are clearly in need of better thinking. We need Wisdom.
The Bible says a lot about Wisdom in the book of Proverbs. We are told that Wisdom is the principal thing. Though it costs us all to get Wisdom.
I think Knowledge is the collection of information that we digest and understand, then, are given a context. While Wisdom is the proper use of Knowledge. It is essential that we learn to let unwanted information one receive go in one ear and out the other. But, one need to stop somewhere in between in order to acquire Knowledge. I guess it is sometimes interesting that mountains of information, turn debates into a pastime. Isn't it a funny thing that Knowledge sometimes can deceive us into thinking that we are wise? My point is, Knowledge alone is not Wisdom. Well, I guess some of you might have heard or know someone who is incredibly smart and yet their Life is in a total mess? Or perharps, you might know someone who is highly educated and yet they could not get a job but faced with problems after one another. What is wrong here? They are not dumb. For them, they might think Life is a struggle, one problem, after another. I should say, sadly, they are lacking Wisdom. In my view, they might not yet learn to apply the Knowledge that they already have in their hands, mere Knowledge is not enough for a successful Life.
Have you ever blasted out on someone whom you think has no common sense? Common sense is a part of Wisdom too. I think that common sense is to apply knowledge to solve one's problems in a way that is better than which might come naturally. We can become so uptight and lose our ability to apply what we have learned to our own lives. So, we lack of common sense. Knowledge that we acquired does not apply to our life, is trivia. It is just Knowledge for Knowledge sake if you can not apply it. Think it is just something about intellectuality. Knowledge alone can leads to arrogance, not to undervalue Knowledge. There must be some thinking to do as to what are the ends of the Knowledge being attained.
Why do you know what you know? And what are you going to do about it? By Knowledge alone, one does not have clear vision, perspectives and the right behaviours. So, when these transformation occurs, I think we call it Wisdom. And how do one get Wisdom? How do we develop it into part of our lives?
Awareness. I guess we should learn to be aware of ourselves and aware of those around us. We can learn from other people's success and not forgetting, their mistakes too. We might have seen people around us are in trouble all the time, and yet, we tend to forget to learn their mistakes. I remember receiving an e-mail from a friend which said, People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. It is so true! You will know that every person you come into contact with, good or bad, is for you, a lesson in living if you will only be aware. You need to determine what they are off or doing right means to you. Every one of your observation is an opportunity for you to figure out what it means and what are you supposed to do with it. Did you know that whenever you see a problem in Life, yours or someone else's, something is really wrong. What it is? Just try to figure it out because it is important for us to know. If we know something works but we do not do it, that is being disconnected from reality. We are the only living beings that can decide to disconnect ourselves from reality! Often we do things that are not important in Life and leaving the important things behind. But, I think we are just kidding ourselves. What would you say? I think living with reality takes an effort on my part. But, it is also essential that we do things that we know must be done and not those things we know we should not be doing.
So, in this context, I happened to understand the Law of Cause and Effect. Things do not just happen to us but for a reason. I feel that we are the decisions we have made and the actions that have been taken. Well, mistakes happen at all time. When it happens, just learn not to gloss over it but take a look at it. Seek to understand why we did it and it did not work, and it was not the result that we always wanted.
From the Knowledge that I have gained today, I have learned to take a step back and analyse a situation before I jump into conclusions. I have not done it successfully yet, but, I will do it and make it a habit to myself. Just think, ponder, make a change in your Life! Begin to practice what you learn and create a habit to it. Isn't it something interesting?
You can talk and offer beautiful ideas, but if there is no action, it is just like you know nothing. I always ask myself at the end of the day, what did I learn today? How would I do it differently? And How do I transfer these lessons to my own Life experiences.
I think this is living by principle and Wisdom. Begin to live intelligently. To live with understanding. To live with meaning. To live with Wisdom.
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