Wisdom

Wisdom is a difficult concept to codify and explain.  While most would claim to know what Wisdom is, most (including myself) come up wanting if we are asked to describe or explain the concept of Wisdom.

You may here somebody describe another as “wise” or even “wise beyond their years…”  I think these statements go a long way in identifying and understanding a key element of Wisdom.

When someone is described as “wise”, usually it is because they understand and take appropriate action in difficult situations. 

If this person is very young, perhaps he or she will be described as wise beyond his or her years.  This implies that although experience (and reflection) are often the source of Wisdom, they cannot be the only source. Otherwise how could a young person possess Wisdom? (Past lives and reincarnation not withstanding, although that would be an interesting argument to develop).  No, Wisdom is part intuition and perhaps empathy.

I recently completed an assignment for my MBA on the knowledge transfer and management, and in the course of preparing for this assignment I read widely on the concepts of the types of knowledge and how it is transferred in an organization and between people.

The readings are relevant, although I do not equate Wisdom to knowledge.  After all, highly intelligent individuals possessing vast knowledge are at times clueless to Right Action.

The interesting correlation between the two areas of “knowing” is that of Polyani’s differentiation of the tacit and explicit elements of knowledge.  Again, I do not believe Wisdom to be a subset of knowledge;  however, it is interesting that Wisdom and knowledge share the element of tacitness – Wisdom cannot be codified, or written down. 

In essence, Wisdom is intuitive and tacit by nature.

So what is Wisdom?  I suppose my best guess, all the above arguments about how Wisdom is gained aside, is that Wisdom is understanding and taking Right Action.