On Wisdom

Now I am going to take up a topic which is very close to my heart. Not because, I claim any understanding of it but, because I feel it is the most important factor for right and proper living. So, what does this word mean ? If you browse through the web you will find different definitions of the word. Some of which are good but many are confusing and inaccurate. I would define the word as "that quality which enables a human being to act and live in the world with internal joy and happiness amidst all circumstances however difficult". So, wisdom is that quality which helps us maintain a joyful mind in the midst of all the vicissitudes of life like loss, defeat, sickness, old age , death. Wisdom is a factor which enables one to live in a state of internal freedom from the circumstances of the life. In other words, it is the proper art of living. A wise person should be free from worries, anxieties, fears and should have found lasting joy and satisfaction in life.

Now, I am sure all of us would find that state very desirable. We might say if only I had that my life would be great. In fact this is what most of us lack in our lives. The question is how is wisdom to come about ? Can it be taught by others in school ? Can we receive it from the religious or spiritual teachers ? Is wisdom accumulated knowledge of the past ? Is wisdom something akin to the art of swimming - something which can be perfected with practice ? Can we get wisdom by reading books or participating in debates ? Is wisdom to be acquired by analysis of our thoughts and feelings ? Is it to be gained by practice of various disciplines which promise a reward if only we practice hard enough ?

To understand this let's look into the question. Wisdom we have defined as the ability to live one's life with joy and freedom in all circumstances. Let's assume for the time being that wisdom is knowledge acquired in the mind either by reading of books and scriptures, imparted by a teacher or guru, learned from past experiences, from various forms of exercise or by analyzing the experiences of our life with our thoughts. In all these cases wisdom is a form of thought or a conditioned response to life. Now can an action based upon past thought or conditioning be a wise or skillful action ? Don't our thoughts and conditioning's basically give us a colored perspective of any situation, isn't all the fighting in the world a result of having different perspectives or thoughts based on different conditionings? This being so, how can any action based upon thought be a wise action ? How can wisdom be a product of thought ? Isn't it the thought which creates all the dangers and mischiefs in the world ? Any thought however noble can be contradicted by another thought. Thus if man were to rely on thought alone there will be no end to problems in the world.

Thus it is clear that wisdom cannot be acquired by any of these means. All acquired things are product of thought which color and interfere with our direct perception of the situation we are in. Therefore, wisdom must be a radically different way of living which is free from all the conditioning of the past and is based upon the direct perception of the situation in the present.