30 March 2000, 809 words
It is very easy to be considered wise. Just tell people exactly what they want to hear, sticking in some phrases about "spiritual knowledge", "cosmic harmony" and "divine purpose". Having white hairs helps, but is not crucial.
To actually be wise, however, is considerably more difficult. In fact, I don't think anyone ever does achieve true wisdom (least of all those who believe they have). Wisdom, you see, consists of two pillars. The first pillar is truth, but truth itself can be divided into two kinds. (Like I said, wisdom is complicated.)
There is objective truth, which may also be termed scientific truth. Objective truth is not absolute truth. It is only the kind of truth which is discovered through proof and logic and which does not vary according to opinion or belief. (For example, that some Amerindians believe that the sun is eaten during an eclipse does not make that the truth.) There are people who argue that objective truth does not exist. You will find, however, that the people who make this argument generally want to convince you of some proposition for which there is no good evidence and which, if accepted, gives them power over you.
The second kind of truth is subjective truth. This is truth which becomes reality only because a sufficient number of people believe it to be so. There is no objective evidence that a Supreme Being exists, but enough people believe in such a Being for religion to have concrete effects upon the world.
The second pillar of wisdom is communicating truth effectively to other people. Most people who are called wise are only skilled communicators. But being an eloquent speaker or writer does not necessarily mean that the information or sentiments conveyed are true or useful. However, since human beings are so constituted that appeals to emotion are more persuasive than appeals to reason, the average person is more likely to attribute wisdom to those who are eloquent rather than to those who are knowledgeable.
The irony here is that those persons who actually have some wisdom rarely consider themselves wise, since they know that the process of understanding is never complete and the process of communication is always flawed. Truly knowledgeable people are acutely aware of the limits of knowledge. (The Dalai Lama, a competent philosopher whose only spiritual ideologies are tolerance and humanitarianism, when asked at a lecture what the difference was between God-knowledge and self-knowledge, responded, "I dunno.")
Moreover, the wider you grow in knowledge, the harder it is to climb the second pillar of wisdom, for you will tend to become irritable or contemptuous or even disillusioned at people's ready embrace of ignorance. That is why so many great intellectuals are often misanthropes. But most of the people considered wise by the average person are not at all wise. They are merely charming, and the key to charm is to be what people expect you to be.
Popularizers of knowledge such as the philosopher Bertrand Russell, the biologist Richard Dawkins or the psycholinguist Steven Pinker are exceptional. But the work of even misanthropic persons who have pursued true wisdom has a lasting impact, simply because objective truth is by definition more powerful than subjective truth. So, if you are truly interested in wisdom, you must be committed to objective truth. And there are several ways to pursue such truth.
The first way is Philosophy. Russell divides philosophy into three types: philosophies of feeling, inspired by love of happiness; practical philosophies, inspired by love of action; and theoretical philosophy, inspired by love of knowledge. The first is naturally the most popular in our culture, but only through the last can you seek wisdom. This is because analytical philosophy, although it does not give knowledge, trains you to think clearly.
The second way is Science, particularly physics and biology. The first gives you objective knowledge about the universe we live in, and gives you that sense of impersonal wonder which is the foundation of all real wisdom. The latter gives you knowledge about the planet we live on, and a truer sense of your place in it.
The third way is Psychology and Literature. I put these two together because psychology is still a primitive science. Reading good novels remains the best way of understanding human nature, but social psychology provides useful empirical insights into the outlook of the human group.
Other useful disciplines are anthropology, history, politics, law, and economics. Some knowledge of most or all these subjects gives true understanding of the world. But getting this grounding requires hard study, and even harder effort to comprehend what you have studied.
It is much easier to follow the platitudes of a Sai Baba or the absolutist creed of a Pastor Cuffie. But that, of course, is why true wisdom is so rare.
Copyright ©2000 Kevin Baldeosingh