wisdom

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“Wisdom is ofttimes nearer when we stoop than when we soar.”

William Wordsworth

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The word wisdom is such a lofty word.

It is such a broad term. It embraces a rare combination of discretion, maturity, keenness of intellect, broad experience, extensive learning, profound thought and compassionate understanding. It seemingly outranks all synonyms. And in its fullest most robust sense it is noble in its morality as well as intellect. And, yet, wisdom is attainable to any and all. Higher educated people do not have the corner on the wisdom market.

Why?

Because at its core wisdom is about simplicity. Stripping away the theoretical mumbo jumbo and all the high falutin’ philosophical meanderings some people get all trapped up in.

Wisdom is actually more about the ability to discern what is important from what is unimportant and making a choice, decision, or conclusion or judgment, based on that which is most important. In high falutin’ terms this is “sensemaking & choicemaking.’

Does that mean everyone is wise? Nope.

Does that mean anyone is capable of making a wise decision? Yup.

I tend to believe the wisest among us are the happy few who understand ‘it is what it is’ and nothing more nor anything less. That truth doesn’t reside in the wretched hollow of guessed intentions or ‘what ifs’, but rather in things as they are.

“More wisdom is latent in things as they are … than in all the words men use.”

Antoine De Saint-Exupery

To be fair. I just dumbed down a fairly complex thing. “What is”, while grounded in reality is actually envisioning things with a dash of past (learning & experience), a sense of the future (probabilities of consequences) and, ultimately, a solid understanding of reality (the present).  In clarifying my dumbed down version I imagine my point is I am not suggesting making wise choices is easy and that everyone is good at making them. Nor am I suggesting wise, or wisdom, shouldn’t be a compliment to the few who deserve it.

Having the ability to understand situations, anticipate consequences and make sound decisions/choices is a valuable <and enviable> aptitude. But wisdom isn’t all about fancy words or lofty philosophical platitudes.

Wise is often stooping to understandable rather than stretching for the unusable theory.

Wise is often simply in what is; not in what it could be.

Wise is often found in the guy schlepping in the mail room.

Wise is often in the mother who insures her kids get a square meal every day.

Wise people, and wisdom, is often found in the neighborhood park rather than at some podium or in some talking head on TV.

I say this because we all have it within us, we often know what is right … and the best … and we don’t need some supposedly wise people spewing forth supposed wisdom to tell us what to do and what to think. Remember. Wisdom is found in discerning what exists (making sense of the reality) and choices we make (navigating reality).

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out I have relentlessly used the word “reality.” I use reality as in ‘the present’. As in what exists in the here and now. Far too often we peg wisdom to ‘learning from the past.’ And, yes, the past can offer us some lessons. But.

There are so many people in the business world (and government) who seem too focused on following the past literally.  They see things and suggest they can be replicated by turning a number of contextual dynamics into a pretzel. I believe ignorant simplistic use of knowledge or information leads to stupidity. And it is silly stupid to believe anyone or anything can replicate the vague outlines of past events into the present.

The past offers us learning and knowledge, not answers. Yes. I just said that. You do not follow in footsteps of the past to gain answers. In fact. About the only thing you do get following the footsteps of the old are questions. And while that may sound frustrating, I would suggest knowing the questions, the right questions, is 90% of the way to gaining a quality answer. Because if you ask all the right questions in the present, well, you are actually seeking the same thing the people of the past were – wisdom in the present.

Ponder.

We all have wisdom. And we would be wise to ponder that.