The Missing Fundamental Element in Human Society
I like to think about things. I especially like to contemplate about the big picture. And by big picture, I mean to dig deep to realize the most fundamental, underlying, pattern, mechanism that drive the big picture.
Therefore, I ask, “What could be one most fundamental element, beyond economy, beyond politics, that is lacking that wrecks havoc in the human world, or rather, preempt humans to wreck havoc with themselves? Why all the human issues because of this missing element?”
I can think come up with one idea… that is — wisdom.
We are sorely lacking in wisdom.
We value intelligence. We value knowledge. Therefore, we value smart (and usually the more aggressive) people. We know those are very much emphasized. But none of those are wisdom.
These days, nobody talks about wisdom. Nobody talks about becoming wise these days. It is not important. In fact, if you say “I want to be wise”, people probably edge away from you and think you are nuts.
We can all agree that someone extremely smart can be very unwise. Wisdom is not associate with smartness and intelligence. So, what could be wisdom? What comes to mind when you think of wisdom? Perhaps you can share. I will opine in the next post.
Originally posted 2009-11-04 00:19:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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HAHHA!
“In fact, if you say “I want to be wiseâ€Â, people probably edge away from you and think you are nuts. ”
That’s a great distinction between wisdom and intelligence.
I like to call wisdom by its more banal name: common sense.
My parents have it, my grandparents definitely had it, and I am hoping to get more of it. :P
But perhaps, wisdom is also common sense worked in with logic/rationality.
I find the students of philosophy to be some of the most level headed, rational people I know.
Granted, I am probably biased, as BF is a philosophy student, but I feel as though I have grown and learned so much just by a couple of learnings he passes on occasionally, relating to situations we discuss.
FB, I made use of your comment in new post. Thanks for the comment! Sounds like you got a nice catch in terms of BF :)
And yes, I think philosophy has a lot to do with it. Yet it is very much underrated. Though, if we start thinking it as “just a field or subject”, nothing would have changed. It’s really more like a way of life, or a fundamental underlying attitude of living.
Did you know Bruce Lee was a philosophy student from University of Washington? And he’s an avid reader of Alan Watts.
Ah… and the thing I always thought was missing was contentment…
guess I should try to get wiser… ~.^
haha… maybe. we can ask, if what’s missing is contentment, where would it come from? :P why cannot we be content?