Knowledgeable Or Wise... Which Are You?

You're quite right, my friend. We all have to work at gaining knowledge and wisdom. We have to not only learn, but teach, be alert and be able to use the knowledge we gain, to convert it into wisdom. It takes years of learning and completely understand what's shown to you. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.

The very words that you've written to explain what knowledge and wisdom are, denotes that you have knowledge my friend. We all do to a certain extent. It doesn't have to be academic knowledge but rather a knowledge of one's self, and that which is drawn from one's life lessons. So, all you have to do is to realise what that knowledge is, and convert it into wisdom. Hence, you have both... we are not all at the same level, but we all gather knowledge my friend, so never say you're lacking. Brightest Blessings, and thank you for your contribution.

I feel that common sense is also a part of wisdom, and that wisdom is gained through our experiences of life. I'm sure you've gathered some wisdom along life's path, my friend. Gathering wisdom is like walking life's path, and picking up little gemstones on the way, and once you have collected enough of these little gemstones, you can change them for one precious pearl of wisdom. Therefore, the more gems of knowledge we collect, the more pearls of wisdom we can exchange for... therefore, we become wiser as we gain and convert our knowledge. Brightest Blessings, my friend and thank you for your contribution.

No problem, my friend. I hope your brain is well engaged now!

Sorry its taken me so long to get to this discussion, but I have to have my brain engaged to answer smart discussions like this one.

An interesting concept, my friend, but a good one. You've hit the nail on the head. Personal experience gives you knowledge of life, and mixed with your academic or reading knowledge, you are able to use the combined product to its best effect, and thereby gain wisdom. I'll post here, as I have in many of the previous responses, a simple observation I made up, to explain how we gain wisdom... see what you think. [b]"We set out on life's path, and on our way, we collect little gems... gems of knowledge... and when we've collected enough of these gems, we exchange them for one, precious pearl... a pearl of wisdom. This goes on, all the way along life's path, until we have several pearls, and therefore become increasingly wise. We don't always realise that we hold these pearls of wisdom, but from time to time, somebody will tell you, you're words are wise. It is then you know that your collection of pearls is indeed, growing." [/b] Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution my dear friend. xx

For sure, it can. If I might say so, Why... you are indeed a wise person, and I value your opinion, always.

The illustration is indeed apt. The wisdom need not be said in words, it can be in kind. Thanks for sharing :)

Awwwwww... thank you for your beautiful sentiments, my dear friend. The feeling is mutual... we seemed to be destined to come together and teach each other some of the lessons of life which we either hadn't learned or hadn't developed. When we speak about certain things, (obviously I won't mention them here), but we seem to be able to relate in some way to the topic in hand. It's difficult to explain, but it's like there's some sort of bond... maybe similar to soul sisters? Anway... I digress. I think your initial response to my question, is an excellent one. "I guess I can consider myself knowledgeable enough in some specific area's, but wise enough to know there is always room for learning and education." You've hit the nail right on the head with that comment, to my mind. We are learning every day, from life's lessons and the people who are sent to teach us, or who become our mentors. I just came from a discussion a short while ago, where I learned something about the different Asian national dresses. Awesome! So, from the way I see it, we accumulate knowledge right the way through our lives, and as we learn, we use that knowledge to gain wisdom. Therefore, both our knowledge and our wisdom, continually increases. Does that make sense to you? I'm not the greatest in the world for putting things down on paper. "It's very hard to find someone like that who won't make you feel like a total fool in what you believe." My answer to that is that the real Fool is the one who makes you feel that way about your beliefs. They are people who don't or won't accept or understand that you have been "chosen" to believe what you do, but I can relate to most things, because I've been there myself, and my knowledge tells me that your beliefs are not unusual, and not wrong. Nor are those of the Fool, but with the Fool, it's a one-way street. Others can accept them, as not being wrong in their beliefs, but they can't accept others... the Fool is the man who thinks he is always right... he is not wise, because he refuses to learn, and use his knowledge to its greatest effect! Cripes... I've run away with myself again! It seems that when we start to converse and share our experiences and views that the words just flow, because we have great interest in what the other does and says. Thus, I end up writing a book!!! So, with that, I'll close, in thanking you for your contribution and extending you the Brightest of Blessings for a great day, my dear friend. xxxx

Nevertheless, you will have acquired a certain amount of wisdom, even at such a tender age. Wisdom is acquired not only through academic knowledge but the knowledge of life itself, and I'm sure your life experience has installed within you a little wisdom, which will grow as life goes on. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.

Maybe you're right that your knowledge outweighs your wisdom at the moment, but I don't think your wisdom outweighs your knowledge as you get older. The academic knowledge is still there, but the life knowledge has turned to wisdom.

Yeah, but at this point I think my knowledge outweighs my wisdom, whereas when you get older I think your wisdom outweighs your knowledge.

Ah, but let me put this to you, my friend. From your mistakes, and from life's lessons, you become more knowledgeable about life itself. If you know you've made a mistake and can put it right, that's a part of your learning process, and eventually, your knowledge turns to wisdom. For instance, you know how to cope with life's ups and downs to the best effect. Try not to be afraid to try new methods, and certainly don't feel insecure or immature... I find you have quite a deal of wisdom, and have shown maturity in several of my discussions. We all have to learn about life my friend. There's always something will crop up which you're not familiar with, but once you have encountered and conquered each thing, then you're wise enough to know what to do next time. Keep faith in yourself, your abilities, and in the world around you. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend. x

You're brilliant indeed. Right, I failed to look further. You may have observed I'm kinda shor-sighted most of the time. If you may, please check this blog of mine: http://anthologist.wordpress.com/2007/01/03/when-the-door-closes/ Anyway, what you said is absolutely brilliant and I'm buying it. It's true we learn so much from our mistakes and from them we become wiser. But then again, these valuable lessons from our mistakes can only be learned if we have a teachable attitude.

Yes, I tend to agree with you my friend. We never stop learning, both by our mistakes and our successes. I'm sure that we even carry the wisdom we obtain further, to a future life. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my dear friend. x

Indeed, my friend, those are words of wisdom. By understanding yourself thoroughly and using that knowledge to understand others, as well as seeing everything that happens as a life lesson, you indeed have accumulated a great amount of wisdom. Brightest Blessings, and thank you for your contribution, my friend. x

You're welcome. I think you're pretty wise and special yourself DarkWing.

Awwwwwwww, you're welcome, and thank you too, my friend. x

I think you've converted more knowledge than you think into wisdom, Sweetheart, and I'll tell you why. You already know your own Self... you know who you are, your capabilities, where you are, and where you want to be. You know you have quite a journey yet, and not a day will go by without your learning or failing to learn something. Don't ever feel that your knowledge is spoken in ignorance, my friend. Be confident that whatever your level of knowledge, you have something of value to teach to somebody else. You're aware of you mistakes... that's good, you can go back and do the same exercise over, with success, thus gaining even more wisdom. You also have learned where you want your son to be and that you can teach him, whilst he is teaching you... yes, even our children are our teachers. To my mind, every single person, or thing we encounter in life, teaches us something. One of the things that stands out constantly in my mind, is when you asked me about your son's path, and where you would like him to be. I'll never forget that, or your recent tussle with your heart, over another obstacle in your path. This tells me that you are quite intense in your relationships with others, especially those who are close to you. Through this intenseness, and desire to do right by others, disregarding your own pain, shows me that you are willing to go back and take the same test over and over until you get it right and have understood the feelings of others. This alone, denotes your desire to succeed, by promoting harmony and happiness into your own life and the life of others. A great lesson of life, and a great source of wisdom my friend. Also, if you're not sure about how to pass these tests, you are not afraid to ask others of their wisdom. I'd be more than proud if you were my daughter or granddaughter... believe me. I agree with what your grandmother taught you. Those who are wise, don't necessarily know how wise they are until somebody imparts with special words such as you have in your response. Thank you so much for that... you touched my heart, yet again! Only the Fool thinks he knows it all, and refuses to listen to the teachings of others. He will never be wise, my friend. They're full of hot air and ignorance. I know that I can still learn much from others, and I can also teach them in return. That's why I don't boast anything but middle of the road wisdom. I have a lot of tree to climb yet, that's for sure. Brightest Blessings, my dearest friend, and thank you for your contribution, and your kind words. xx

Thank you my dear friend. I may never have met you but I will always be willing to support and share with you, because I know that you will always receive me gracefully, by listening to my words and appreciating them. That means a lot to me, too. xxx

Thank you. You have touched my heart with your words and your praise. I would be proud to be your daughter or granddaughter, and you may never know the help and great inspiration you have been and continue to be to me, someone that you have never met. Thank you so much.

From what you have said in your response, my friend, I would agree that you have reached a certain level of wisdom. Why, do I say that? Because you know yourself, you know your kids and you understand that every little thing you do in life is a lesson, and therefore the gathering of knowledge, which you have the ability to turn into wisdom. I'm going to repeat myself again, and show you a little story I made up about the gathering of wisdom. We set out on life's path, and on our way, we collect little gems... gems of knowledge... and when we've collected enough of these gems, we exchange them for one, precious pearl... a pearl of wisdom. This goes on, all the way along life's path, until we have several pearls, and therefore become increasingly wise. We don't always realise that we hold these pearls of wisdom, but from time to time, somebody will tell you, you're words are wise. It is then you know that your collection of pearls is indeed, growing. I agree... we are always learning, right up until the day we leave this world for the next, and who knows... maybe even beyond then. None of us can ever profess to hold all the wisdom pearls because they will never learn every single thing there is to learn about life, but we can all do our best, and become quite wise. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.

I like your proverb, my friend. Yes, we will all continue to learn from each other, and indeed become teachers and mentors as we learn more. Wisdom is a great thing to share, my friend. Have a good day! x

Hi Thanks for your response. Yes as you say we seem to get and collect small gems and they are made into a garland. That you seem to be wearing all the time. Yes I have been getting responses from other mylotters here that I have wisdom , but I can never say that I have enough. We cannot ever stop learning in life and may be after leaving the world too we could be learning something new.. Who knows? In our place we have a proverb which says " what you have learnt is only a handful, you have got to learn as much which is as big as the universe." There are lots more to learn and we'll continue our learning together .. Right???

I look at it this way... we travel life's path, collecting little gems of knowledge, and when we have collected enough gems, we exchange them for one pearl of wisdom. This goes on, all the way through life, until you've collected several pearls of wisdom, and therefore can be called wise. You may be more wise than you know. We don't all recognise that we have wisdom until somebody tells us so... so keep up the good work, collecting knowledge my friend, and see where it leads. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.

Thank you, my friend. I do write a bit as well as read, so it all helps. Have a good day!

good point of view. seems you love literature. carry on...

I thought that's what I said in the discussion my friend, but never mind. Yes, there are various types of knowledge, but to become wise, you need to have knowledge of life itself, not just academic knowledge. From our life lessons, we acquire the wisdom to cope with life successfully and to help others along the way... do you agree? Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution, my friend.

Lol... yes, I think that's true to an extent, but wisdom is gained really from life's experiences, not solely from books. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.

Yes I agree about the innate wisdom, my friend... I've posted this little story I made up in several of my responses, but it helps to explain more, what I was trying to get at, about knowledge being the initial stages of wisdom, which we use to its greatest effect, to convert into wisdom... [b]"We set out on life's path, and on our way, we collect little gems... gems of knowledge... and when we've collected enough of these gems, we exchange them for one, precious pearl... a pearl of wisdom. This goes on, all the way along life's path, until we have several pearls, and therefore become increasingly wise. We don't always realise that we hold these pearls of wisdom, but from time to time, somebody will tell you, you're words are wise. It is then you know that your collection of pearls is indeed, growing."[/b] Yes, I agree that possibly our guidance comes through our deities... in your case, God and in mine, several, one of the main ones being Gaia, Mother of the Earth and Nature. I also agree that, as do we, everybody who walks this Earth should respect the other man's religion or beliefs, for to my mind none of us is wrong to hold the beliefs we do. Brightest Blessings, my dear friend, and thank you for your contribution. I hope that you obtain the wisdom of serpents as well as the innocence of a dove.

That's a very good way of putting things, my friend. I wouldn't exactly say that knowledge used wrongly is demonic, but it certainly isn't wisdom... I agree thus far. As I've said before in this dicussion, I see the path of life with little gems of knowledge scattered along it, which we pick up as we travel our paths. When we've accumulated enough of these gems of knowledge, we may exchange them for one pearl of wisdom, but you have to know how to exchange them, my friend. Brightest Blessings, and thank you for your contribution.

I agree that wisdom comes with time, but not necessarily age. Some younger people are quite wise too, depending on their upbringing and their knowledge of life, itself. You're right also, in saying there are people out there with a lot of knowledge and very little wisdom. These are usually the academically knowledgeable people, who have their heads stuck in books all the time. Wisdom comes from life's path, and I'm sure you're wiser than you think, but yes, we will all become wiser each day, because there is still so much to learn, whatever age we're at. Brightest Blessings, and thank you for your contribution my dear friend. xx

Oh yes, my friend, we will still be learning on the day we leave this world for the next. Every experience holds a new life lesson. I know I've said this many times throughout this discussion, but I'd like to say it here too, if that's ok with you... this is the way I look at the accumulation of wisdom. We set out on life's path, and on our way, we collect little gems... gems of knowledge... and when we've collected enough of these gems, we exchange them for one, precious pearl... a pearl of wisdom. This goes on, all the way along life's path, until we have several pearls, and therefore become increasingly wise. We don't always realise that we hold these pearls of wisdom, but from time to time, somebody will tell you, you're words are wise. It is then you know that your collection of pearls is indeed, growing. Brightest Blessings, my friend and thank you for your contribution.

I suspect that whilst you're gaining knowledge academically, you're also learning about life, and gathering wisdom, perhaps without being aware of the fact. A little story I made up for this discussion... We walk life's path, picking up little gems of knowledge along the way, and when we have enough little gems of knowledge, we exchange them for one pearl of wisdom. Then we start over, gathering more little gems of knowledge and changing them for one more pearl of wisdom. We store all these pearls in a box, or bag, and each one we collect, we become a little wiser. So it goes on, throughout life, and for all we know, even after life. We never stop learning my friend. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.

Wisdom is the knowledge of life, my friend. You can accumulate all the academic knowledge in the world and ignore the teachings of life. Thus, you will never gain wisdom. I disagree... there's nothing more real than life itself and in life there is wisdom. Brightest Blessings and thank you for your contribution.