by Bob O'Shaunessey

Created on: February 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

I suppose that if there were seven steps to becoming wise that were clearly delineated and easy to follow, then being a wise man or woman would be nothing remarkable. Our society would be full of wise men and women, and a great many of the problems in this world would probably be solved. Since this is not the case, I suppose that wisdom must be more difficult to attain. I do not consider myself to be wise; I still have many lessons to learn. So instead of preaching from a soapbox about what wisdom is and how to attain it, I will simply explain the path toward wisdom that I follow.

1. Deal with your own issues. We all have events in our lives which have colored our perceptions and caused us to develop prejudices in one form or another. I cannot tell you specifically how to overcome your personal issues. It may involve apologizing to one you have wronged. It may involve forgiving one who has wronged you. It may involve overcoming a fear, or learning to ask for help. If you are honest with yourself, a small amount of introspection will go a long way toward determining what your personal issues are. It may take a lifetime, but you must deal with these issues before you can seek further wisdom.

2. Learn to listen. Most people view conversations, whether consciously or unconsciously, as a chance to get their views and opinions heard. Because we assume that our point is more important or relevant than the points of others, we wait for our turn to talk while the words of our conversational partners fade into the background like so much white noise. As an exercise, try having a conversation in which you only glean information, without offering any. It is rather easy once you realize that you probably didn't have any useful information to offer the conversation in the first place. Which brings me to point three.

3. Learn to tell the difference between the trivial and the important. This is a difficult one. I've been working on it my whole life. Just when you think you understand this one, the important will become trivial, and trivial will become important. It is a lesson you will have to learn yourself, although I can give you this hint: the relationships you discard in order to seek wisdom, no matter how flawed or seemingly destructive they are, will one day become more important than the pursuit of wisdom itself.

4. Do not ignore any source of wisdom, no matter how insignificant it may seem. The fool may speak idiocy and lies most of the time, but that does prevent him

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