Knowledge And Wisdom

[Marblehead]

So the question to me was:

 

Marblehead- I have always seemed to struggle understanding the difference between knowledge and wisdom. How can gaining knowledge lead to the wisdom we can use in our life. I dunno if you could enlighten me on this subject on a little i would really appreciate it, because i think i am more knowledgeable than wise

 

I suggest that there is a signifcant difference.

 

Knowledge is the attainment of facts. We can go to the library and read on just about any topic we wish and we can gain much knowledge of this topic.

 

Let's use, as an example, an automobile. We read everything available about automobiles, how they are manufactured, different drive trains, suspension, methods of steering, etc.

 

So we learn everything there is to know. We are extremely knowledgeable of how they are made and the utility of different configurations.

 

Then, because we have all this knowledge, we go out and buy ourself a new Corvette. We zoom out of the sales lot and crash into another vehicle and kill ourself.

 

Where did we go wrong? Well, we gained all the knowledge available but we failed to gain the wisdom of how to utilize the car to our best advantage in living a long and contented life.

 

Therefore, I suggest that wisdom is what allows us to utilize this knowledge to our best advantage. In my opinion, knowledge is knowing facts. Wisdom is knowing how to utilize these facts to help us through our life. It doesn't matter if you are a rocket scientist or not, if you can't balance a checkbook all that math would keep you from having to pay an over-draft charge.

 

So I look at wisdom as any knowledge that I understand how to apply toward living my life in peace and contentment. Sure, knowledge and wisdom will help greatly in a person's job, hobby, whatever. But we should never stop at just attaining knowledge. That's only the first step. Now learn how to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways to make our life better.

 

Everyone is welcome in this to add to what I have said or even to dispute what I have said, or make clearer what I have said.

[strawdog65]

So the question to me was:

 

Marblehead- I have always seemed to struggle understanding the difference between knowledge and wisdom. How can gaining knowledge lead to the wisdom we can use in our life. I dunno if you could enlighten me on this subject on a little i would really appreciate it, because i think i am more knowledgeable than wise

 

I suggest that there is a signifcant difference.

 

Knowledge is the attainment of facts. We can go to the library and read on just about any topic we wish and we can gain much knowledge of this topic.

 

Let's use, as an example, an automobile. We read everything available about automobiles, how they are manufactured, different drive trains, suspension, methods of steering, etc.

 

So we learn everything there is to know. We are extremely knowledgeable of how they are made and the utility of different configurations.

 

Then, because we have all this knowledge, we go out and buy ourself a new Corvette. We zoom out of the sales lot and crash into another vehicle and kill ourself.

 

Where did we go wrong? Well, we gained all the knowledge available but we failed to gain the wisdom of how to utilize the car to our best advantage in living a long and contented life.

 

Therefore, I suggest that wisdom is what allows us to utilize this knowledge to our best advantage. In my opinion, knowledge is knowing facts. Wisdom is knowing how to utilize these facts to help us through our life. It doesn't matter if you are a rocket scientist or not, if you can't balance a checkbook all that math would keep you from having to pay an over-draft charge.

 

So I look at wisdom as any knowledge that I understand how to apply toward living my life in peace and contentment. Sure, knowledge and wisdom will help greatly in a person's job, hobby, whatever. But we should never stop at just attaining knowledge. That's only the first step. Now learn how to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways to make our life better.

 

Everyone is welcome in this to add to what I have said or even to dispute what I have said, or make clearer what I have said.

 

 

 

 

Hi Marblehead!

 

 

I Agree with all you have said.... and would like to just add my own bit!

 

Knowledge... is the understanding of information that has been learned.

 

Wisdom.... is using the information with the respect to realize that nothing,

no- thing, no situation is entirely "knowable" and after taking that into consideration,

then having the ability to alter how the information learned is applied, in any given situation.

 

 

Peace!

[al.]

Hi Marblehead!

 

 

I Agree with all you have said.... and would like to just add my own bit!

 

Knowledge... is the understanding of information that has been learned.

 

Wisdom.... is using the information with the respect to realize that nothing,

no- thing, no situation is entirely "knowable" and after taking that into consideration,

then having the ability to alter how the information learned is applied, in any given situation.

 

 

Peace!

 

YES!

 

And to repeat from a different angle- ask yourself this-

 

What do I know for certain? What do I truthfully 100% KNOW?

 

And after realising the truth of the matter, it is wise to act accordingly!

 

a

[Aaron]

According to the Dungeons and Dragons rule manual, Intelligence (i.e. knowledge) is the accumulation of what one knows, Wisdom is the application of what one knows, in other words common sense. Any deeper than that and I start to get the jitters.

 

Aaron

[idquest]

Knowledge is the attainment of facts. We can go to the library and read on just about any topic we wish and we can gain much knowledge of this topic.

 

...

 

Therefore, I suggest that wisdom is what allows us to utilize this knowledge to our best advantage. In my opinion, knowledge is knowing facts. Wisdom is knowing how to utilize these facts to help us through our life. It doesn't matter if you are a rocket scientist or not, if you can't balance a checkbook all that math would keep you from having to pay an over-draft charge.

 

So I look at wisdom as any knowledge that I understand how to apply toward living my life in peace and contentment. Sure, knowledge and wisdom will help greatly in a person's job, hobby, whatever. But we should never stop at just attaining knowledge. That's only the first step. Now learn how to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways to make our life better.

 

Everyone is welcome in this to add to what I have said or even to dispute what I have said, or make clearer what I have said.

 

I agree with the knowledge side. I might not agree fully with the wisdom side.

 

In your outline the wisdom sounds like making decisions or an ability to make decisions (I could be wrong in the interpretation though). I don't think the main attribute of wisdom is an ability to make decisions.

 

I see wisdom more like understanding of underlying relationships between fenomena. You can't really get this kind of understanding from books/training/schools because, as you put it, any synthesis is much more inclusive and multifaceted than any analysis. This understanding does not necessarily lead to the ability of making any decisions.

[Marblehead]

Nice input everyone. Thanks!

 

 

Hi IDQuest,

 

Yeah, I think decision-making would have to be considered a different concept. I do agree with what you said although I would hope that through wisdom one had gained the ability to make decisions, that is, to analyze a problem, select possible corrective actions, select the best alternative, accept the results of our actions.

 

So in a way, yes, I think decision-making is a separate concept but yet attaining wisdom would surely help a person in that process.

[dwai]

So the question to me was:

 

Marblehead- I have always seemed to struggle understanding the difference between knowledge and wisdom. How can gaining knowledge lead to the wisdom we can use in our life. I dunno if you could enlighten me on this subject on a little i would really appreciate it, because i think i am more knowledgeable than wise

 

I suggest that there is a signifcant difference.

 

Knowledge is the attainment of facts. We can go to the library and read on just about any topic we wish and we can gain much knowledge of this topic.

 

Let's use, as an example, an automobile. We read everything available about automobiles, how they are manufactured, different drive trains, suspension, methods of steering, etc.

 

So we learn everything there is to know. We are extremely knowledgeable of how they are made and the utility of different configurations.

 

Then, because we have all this knowledge, we go out and buy ourself a new Corvette. We zoom out of the sales lot and crash into another vehicle and kill ourself.

 

Where did we go wrong? Well, we gained all the knowledge available but we failed to gain the wisdom of how to utilize the car to our best advantage in living a long and contented life.

 

Therefore, I suggest that wisdom is what allows us to utilize this knowledge to our best advantage. In my opinion, knowledge is knowing facts. Wisdom is knowing how to utilize these facts to help us through our life. It doesn't matter if you are a rocket scientist or not, if you can't balance a checkbook all that math would keep you from having to pay an over-draft charge.

 

So I look at wisdom as any knowledge that I understand how to apply toward living my life in peace and contentment. Sure, knowledge and wisdom will help greatly in a person's job, hobby, whatever. But we should never stop at just attaining knowledge. That's only the first step. Now learn how to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways to make our life better.

 

Everyone is welcome in this to add to what I have said or even to dispute what I have said, or make clearer what I have said.

 

beautifully said. May I add that Knowledge is acquired by study, wisdom is developed from experience. One could be "not knowledgeable" and still be wise. Also, one could be extremely knowledgeable but very unwise.

[Marblehead]

beautifully said. May I add that Knowledge is acquired by study, wisdom is developed from experience. One could be "not knowledgeable" and still be wise.

 

Thanks. And thank you for mentioning this. I had intended on mentioning this in my initial post but it slipped my mind.

 

(The part I did not repeat I agree with as well.)

[unmike]

Knowledge is heady, intellectual, and conceptual.

 

Wisdom is practical, and earned through experience.

 

Knowledge is thinking with your head.

 

Wisdom is thinking with your gut.

 

Knowledge is power.

 

Wisdom is discretion.

[Marblehead]

That's nice, sweet, and to the point. Thanks.

[三江源]

I do agree that knowledge is something quite different to wisdom. As different as peanut butter is to cheese. Yes, they both go nicely with crackers... but that's about it as far as similarity goes.

 

However the process of acquiring knowledge can be part of the process of developing wisdom.

 

Which is why I think we have to study a topic for ourselves and find the nuances for ourselves, and that the practise of asking a question and expecting to be spoon fed a definitive answer ( not suggesting that is happening in this thread) is counter productive to the getting of wisdom or understanding.

 

Study provides an understanding of the underlying relationship between ideas and interpretations.

 

Asking questions is a great way to get knowledge and wisdom, so long as you arent actually looking for answers, but are just looking for debate.

 

The best educators dont give definitive answers. They ask questions to stimulate further questions, so that the student grows and develops, and the student finds his own answer. And with it, a bit of wisdom.

The Socratic Method.

[idquest]

One could be "not knowledgeable" and still be wise. Also, one could be extremely knowledgeable but very unwise.

A slightly different angle on this:

 

Does knowledge give any new quality to wisdom?

 

I agree that wisdom doesn't require direct knowledge to be manifested. But if somebody has wisdom quality, would that quality be modified to some extent by aquiring knowledge? Will it become more 'refined'? Get more 'clarity'?

[Stigweard]

[Brian]

The Dead actually did a pretty cool jam on "There Is A Mountain" during "Alligator" on occasion...

I'd contribute to this thread by saying that the relationship between knowledge and wisdom is rather similar to (but not quite the same as) the relationship between data and information.

[The Way Is Virtue]

Knowledge is one's total accumulation of 'facts', 'observations', 'truths', etc.

Wisdom comes from the letting go of 'facts', 'observations', 'truths', etc.

 

Edited December 1, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue

[Marblehead]

However the process of acquiring knowledge can be part of the process of developing wisdom.

 

Exactly! Similar to what Chuang Tzu has said: (Paraphrased) Once we understand the concept we can forget about the words. Likewise, once we gain wisdom we can forget about all the various facts of knowledge.

[Marblehead]

Etymologically wisdom comes back to the Proto-Indo-European base woid / weid / wid "to see," and is the same root as "vision" and also interestingly "wizard"

 

Yes, someone recently took the time to point this out to me. Hehehe

 

Now because I can directly equate "wisdom" to this type of "seeing" then in my view:

 

Knowledge = fixated conceptualization via descriptions and labels

 

Whereas:

 

Wisdom = the direct and instantaneous flow of awareness between the perceiver and the perceived. It is knowingness rather than knowledge.

 

 

And I think this is exactly why Lao Tzu suggested that we discard knowledge. All is change. If we do not change our understandings consistent with the changes throughout the universe we will be stuck with false knowledge.

[Marblehead]

I'd contribute to this thread by saying that the relationship between knowledge and wisdom is rather similar to (but not quite the same as) the relationship between data and information.

 

I like that example. Thanks.

[Marblehead]

Knowledge is one's total accumulation of 'facts', 'observations', 'truths', etc.

Wisdom comes from the letting go of 'facts', 'observations', 'truths', etc.

 

 

Good.

 

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the concept of intuitive wisdom (sometimes called cammon sense).

[dawei]

[Stigweard]

Stig said it in his very first word without realizing it, "seeing". And then lost everyone for the next few hundred words

 

[Marblehead]

Edited December 1, 2010 by Marblehead

[Vajrahridaya]

Stig said it in his very first word without realizing it, "seeing". And then lost everyone for the next few hundred words

 

I found myself disagreeing with almost everyone… so here is my disagreements:

 

Wisdom does not utilize knowledge, it eschews it.

 

Wisdom does not use information, it ignores it.

 

Wisdom does not apply knowledge, it disassociates from it.

 

Ideally there is no difference between knowledge and wisdom, as they should compliment each other as knowledge should lead to wisdom and knowledge should be the expression of wisdom. But, for most of us, there's going to be some difference and confusion, but I wouldn't really eschew knowledge, as that would be unwise.

Edited December 1, 2010 by Vajrahridaya

[C T]

Knowledge is potential wisdom...

It seeks out spaces in the head.

 

Wisdom is potential freedom...

It seeks out spaces in the heart.

 

The ability to integrate wisdom and knowledge/method is Mahamudra (The Great Seal).

[Marblehead]

Hi CowTao, nice to see you!

 

Lovely addition.

 

Ditto.