No need to look for wisdom because you have it all along

Everyone is born with wisdom. It’s as inherent as conscience. Maybe, the two are the same, anyway. Conscience is the hypothetical green or red light that we ascribe to what we deem is right or wrong.

No matter how many external and extraneous influences seem to erode the pure, primordial wisdom of a person, present from birth – nothing, but nothing, can take wisdom away. These external influences can only alter behavior or attitude, but never eradicate that innate wisdom – nor improve it.

There are many definitions and interpretations of this oft-repeated and loosely-used word. But what is wisdom, anyway? It is nothing more than the judicious application of all the combinations and by-products of knowledge and experience – which, if you look closely, are possessions of anybody and everybody. So, it is logical to conclude that anyone has wisdom.

There are methods to alter behavior and attitude, but these do not fall under the purview of wisdom, but at best, psychology.

Martin Seligman’s positive psychology “studies the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive.” Wisdom, according to positive psychology, can be measured with the following criteria: the ability to discern the core of important problems, self-awareness, and sincerity.

Every man has all these. It’s instinct.

It’s instinctual to recognize the cause and effect of problems. (If you can’t, it’s not lack of wisdom but some mental or psychological handicap that deters you).

It’s instinctual to be aware of oneself. (Nobody knows you better than you do.)

It’s instinctual to be sincere to others. (If you’re not, that doesn’t make you bereft of wisdom. It’s your attitude that needs some repair.)

There are methods to teach spirituality, but still these are not under the category of wisdom, either. Spirituality, with its opposition to what’s material, temporal, and worldly, touches on sanity and psychological health. The lessons in spirituality are really based on good manners and right conduct.

The best proof of wisdom is recognizing that everybody has it, and that no one is better than another. It is a futile attempt to teach ‘wisdom improvement’ because there is no need to prescribe ways and means to achieve it.

And those who advocate that there is a difference between those who have higher wisdom and lower wisdom are the ones who haven’t discovered the fact that there are no gradations of wisdom, as there is not even an absence of it.

No one can teach wisdom. No one can preach it. For the single most basic reason, that there is no need to do that.

Let us not underestimate humans. They are capable of chasing their own windmills, as much as fight their own battles.

They are also capable of making their own epiphanies, without being taught.