Wisdom

I've always wondered what one must do to be seen as wise? Must they give pearls or wisdom or know when to keep quiet? Do they perhaps give good advice, or give the right out come?

If you look in a dictionary, they categorise wisdom as:

> The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.

> Common sense; good judgment.

But a person is only wise in the eyes of another. The aim of this article is to find out what really makes a person wise; is it age, cleverness, logic or maybe something else?

So how does one become wise? Well I remember seeing a 'Dummy's guide to Wisdom' for sale at the book shop ... ok so maybe it wasn't exactly entitled that, but it was something of that genre. You know the types of books I mean, the ones with thousands of one liner's in, famous quotes and the not so famous ones. Take for example these:

"Throw enough dirt and some of it will stick"

"Life is not a matter of chance; it's a matter of choice."

"No true autobiography has been or will ever be written. We all have things that we are afraid to tell about ourselves."

These sorts of quotes are supposed to inspire us, make us think, make us relate. Does that make us wise, by coming up with great quotes? Or does that just make us clever? Does clever go hand in hand with wise?

There are other people who think one can only be wise if they have lived enough. 'You get wiser as you get older' - is that true? I know a lot of people much older than myself and they certainly do not fit that expression.

Maybe it depends on how well you know yourself, or how you interpret things? Perhaps the wise are the people who learn from their mistakes; they certainly aren't the ones who haven't made any. True, you can learn from other people's mistakes, but you will only truly learn once you make the mistake yourself.

Some people are seen as wise because they know when to be quiet. They know when to turn the other cheek, to take no notice. Does that make them wise or just stupid for turning a blind eye?

People who think on a logical wave length are often seen as wise because they, well ... think logically. This means they often have the right idea about things and situations and to other people this comes across as being wise.

So why would I write an article on wisdom? Because with wisdom comes truth. Truth evokes all sorts of reactions from people, the good, the bad and all that's in between. People strive for truth, for understanding and knowledge; for knowledge is power.

Maybe the key to wisdom is acceptance? The sooner you can accept something, the sooner you can deal with it. In my opinion a wise person is neither clever nor smart, it doesn't matter how well you know yourself. It's about how well you can accept things, get through them and come out the other end still standing. It doesn't matter whether you use brain or brawn, as long as you do something.

Wisdom is about trying, learning and not striving for perfection. Because the wise already know perfection doesn't exist.