by Kenneth Schortgen Jr

Created on: February 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

Wisdom has always been misinterpreted by man and society in the course of philosophical discussion. Wisdom goes hand in hand with both knowledge and experience and the TRUE definition of Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge and experience into a productive process or result.

I love to use mans religion in this context, AND also philosophy. Take the Christian organized relgion. In most cases (not all), the leaders of the 2600 denominations of a church that claims Jesus as its head can quote chapter and verse the Gospels as written by the Disciples and their letters to the early churches. But when you look at the people who follow these teachings, very few can apply and use those scriptures to better their daily lives. The true Wisdom here with the religion of Christianity, or ANY relgion for that matter, is the ability to take the knowledge of the books, and the teachings of the leaders to apply those lessons to life.

But when you look at individual Christians today, just as many have marital and child problems, are in debt and poverty, and are sick and ill as the unbeleiver. Why would ANYONE aspire to this Wisdom if the results are the same as if you didnt follow the beliefs? Even more, what of those people who CAN apply the knowledge and use it to make their lives so much better? What do they have different in their lives that those who also follow the same knowledge dont have?

They have Wisdom of the knowledge... they have gone beyond the books and are able to apply the things taught in a personal level that acheives results... and primarily, the results spelled out in the books.

How does this apply to philosophy? Philosophy is actually the opposite of Wisdom, because philosophy has no intention in its premise to find solutions to questions. Take an economic philosophy such as Communism. Karl Marx wrote that true communism is a mixture of economic production and individual life change. To accomplish this philosophy according to Marx, the Capitalists must drive the labor factor of production to come together and revolt to take over the means of production, while at the same time, changing their internal drives and desires into a sole purpose with no other focus other than work and production. People (labor) must base their entire lives on being just a single entity in the cog of production, and desire nothing more than to know their place in the whole picture of society. To accomplish this, one must give up on dreams, goals, inventiveness, family, relgion, spirituality and become no more than a robot who possesses nothing except the strength of his back and the mind of a worker in the collective.

How can application be accomplished in this picture? It requires humanity to completely de-evolve from itself on an individual basis, and live the most mundane of existances. On the contrary, labor (man) can accomplish the same result and not give up any of his humanity and desires in a different philosophy such as Capitalism...

But millions around the world fight and die to achieve by alternate means a process that Marx said would be acheived with little blodoshed.

Wisdom is the application of knowledge and experience, and just as the Elders in Native American tribes were revered for their Wisdom and knowledge, we should seek today TRUE men of Wisdom, and not aspire to follow any person with a title in front of their and assume they are wise.

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