WISE III
Hello again...
I saw pretty a lot of the angry comments about the delay. I am sorry. Just I suppose it was not wise to start this post when there was so much going on this week. :)
However, I found it extremely difficult to overview the ideas I had in the comments. It is difficult for certain reasons. I am not absolute objective body that can actually tell that this was right and this was wrong. So if you are actually expecting me to say now the presided definition what the wisdom is... you can stop reading the post. I have no right and ability to say that. What I wanted to show by this post and proposal to leave the comments is that the understanding of the abstract terms as 'wisdom', 'love', 'happiness' etc etc is so distinctive for every each one of us. To understand these terms, we need to listen to each other and I think we lack this ability in our everyday life.
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Once upon a time in the middle of nowhere there was a house on the side of the road and the bright warm light was coming out of the windows. The storm outside was making this light so tempting and cosy so lots of traveller end up in the dining room of this small tavern. Let’s have a look inside.
The fireplace was hot and only new guests gathered close to the fireplace as the rest of the people did not feel cold and the rain outside did not seem hostile to them but just calming. I was making tea and some hot wine. The smell of the spices was wondering around and tickles the noses of my guests. More and more people were looking at the bar with curiosity. Then one of the new guests stand up and came up to the bar. He was tall and thin with the eyes of the sea colour. 
- Are you making the hot wine?
- Yes, it is really good in this kind of weather. Will keep you safe from cold.
More and more eyes were on me and the guest. He put the money on the bar. I gave him his glass. Some people start to chat in the corner of the dining room. Another group came to the bar, then another. And finally everyone had tea or wine. Everyone felt safer and much more relaxed. The wine and tea was warming their bodies and the wine warmed the minds as well so people start to talk. More and more people were getting involved into the discussion. Then one corner of the room burst with laugh.
- Hey, you! Who is Ella Wheeler Wilcox? She seems confused when she talks about wisdom!
The first person who bought the wine from me (and already was having his third glass) was staring at me and pointing at the writing on the wall.
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet. Her best-known work was Poems of Passion, have you heard of it?
I took another glass to wipe and looked at the tall man with the green eyes. The guest stand and all the rest of the people were looking at him. He walked from one wall to another reading the writings I had on it.
- The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind. (Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
- Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.( Andre Gide)
- Without courage, wisdom bears no fruit. (Baltasar Gracian)
- Life is the only real counselor; wisdom unfiltered through personal experience does not become a part of the moral tissue. (Edith Wharton)
- To know when to be generous and when firm—that is wisdom. (Elbert Hubbard)
- Too bad that all the people who really know how to run the country are busy driving taxi cabs and cutting hair. (George Burns)
The last phrase always had its effect on the tired but relaxed group of travellers. They laughed and looked at me. I was checking the new portion of the wine. A bit more cinnamon, yeah, now it is good.
- How do you find it, huh?
The green eyed man looked at the person sitting next to him. It was a young woman, too clean and nice for this place. She was still holding the first glass that some of travellers gave her. She looked at her nails and said:
- I find it extremely interesting.
Her voice was like a wind wandering in the Mediterranean olive trees. Warm, a bit sharp and sandy. Everyone looked at her. She continued.
- Everyone would give a different answer, but the point is that everyone agrees that it is good to be wise. – She paused and raised her eyes, brown with a bit of sunshine on the bottom.
- Someone says that actions are wise when they are led so that the result is positive, someone that wise actions are those performed following our moral values. According to me wise actions are those performed by people who think about what they are doing, about consequences and reasons. That is the reason why I think nobody can be completely wise. There is always a moment in which we act only following our instinct, without thinking. Life has to be a little unwise. – She gave a smile to the man who started the talk and looked back on her nails. The dining room was covered with such a heavy silence that the sound of the wine gurgling on the fire was louder that the thunder outside.
The cloud of smoke with the smell of apple came from the left corner of the room and with the smoke the words came.
- Being wise is avoiding mistakes, getting away from them taking advantage of opportunities with considering the best possible solution.
The person talked with the east accent and he was lying down on the carpet with couple of pillows under his head. He finished the talk and started to move coal on the kalian so two orange lights arose in the darkness of his corner. I was looking at the people and interest in my eyes was much brighter than the coal on the kalian but it was dark near the bar so everybody could see only bored barmen moving the glasses.
The person sat next to the man and he talked.
- Do you want to talk about wisdom? Think about religion.
Q: I'd like to be the most learned of men.
A: Fear Allah, and you will be the most learned of men.
Q: I wish to be the richest man in the world.
A: Be contented, and you will be the richest man in the world.
Q: I'd like to be the most just man.
A: Desire for others what you desire for yourself, and you will be the most just of men.
That is the Wisdom in Islam!
People looked at him and then continued to talk in their small gourp and the person smoking kalian moved a tea toward the man who spoke about Islam.
The man sitting so near to the fireplace so his cheeks and ears were red looked at the guests and asked a bit aggressively.
- Do you want to talk about who is wise? Who among men (I mean humankind) is wise? Nobody, in their own right.
What I mean is that you have to get your presuppositions right; else the whole deck of cards is on shakey foundations. Are you eternal, incorruptible, unchanging, all-knowing, all-powerful, and incapable of error?
Seems to me that the wise thing to do is to conform one's thoughts, one's allegiance, and one's behaviour to the ultimate source of truth, which is the Lord, as he reveals himself in the bible.
His manner of speech was to prolong the words and make them sound soft. He might be from Australia
People started to chat in the small group and I could hear that the word ‘wise’ was coming up so often that it seemed strange meditation to me. This sounds to me like a folk music of the rare tribe. All these people had their own stories. Italian woman was talking to the man sitting on her right and even though I still could hear the repetition of the word wise and abstract questions, their eyes were talking on their own language. The man with the green cold eyes was sitting and looking at his glass, it seemed that he is considering all pros and cons to come to the bar again. The Australian traveller was chatting with the east man and he even sat next to him on the carpet. They all have their own roads and only here in the middle of nowhere they can be themselves a bit more than usual. They can talk it means to be wise and argue about something that they have no time to think in the real life...
One young girl stood up and looked at everyone. Her hair was wildly curly and she tried to keep them out of the face. She made a serious a bit too adult face.
- What does ‘wise’ mean? Not making the same stupid mistakes twice.....when you ask for advise..you listen and maybe use what is given to you....you realize that maybe your parents were smarter than you and you now wish you had listened to them....you wish you had paid more attention in school....shall I continue...?
She blushed and could not stand the crowd looking at her. She said ‘Bye’ and she left the room and we could hear her steps on the stairs and the sound of the closed door. She went to her room and she will leave the place first in the morning that no one recognises her.
The tall man in the group next to the kalian said something louder than usual and everyone looked at him.
- Wisdom-related knowledge grows steadily through life. There is no actual measure to this. The function of wisdom is to discriminate between good and evil.
- I agree. There is a crucial difference between wisdom and knowledge
It is experience which dictates our understanding of cause and effect—knowledge; which makes it the concern of investigation and discovery: the realm of science. But it is morality, the fixed foundation of understanding, that dictates our understanding of meaning—right and wrong: the realm of religion. This is why the recognition of sin is constant and the claims of Revelations endure, while scientific theories vary in the light of new discoveries. Although scientific advancements may obscure the truth and require refinement in Church teachings, such changes are only to the interpretation of, not changes to, the axioms of morality.
The second person talked so confident so we could only wonder if he needed to answer the questions like that every day in his real life. I looked at him. He was not tall, was not short, he was not old, was not young. But something in his eyes made me believe that he is a professor in some university. And according to his accent it might be university somewhere in the new World.
- Wisdom is not one thing; it is a whole array of better-than-ordinary ways of being, and living, and dealing with the world. Because of this, and because individual wise people express wisdom's characteristics in different ways and to different degrees, this question has no brief answer.
This person had the similar accent to the ‘professor’ but a bit colder. Canadian? They looked at each other and moved to the one table. They will continue the discussion long after the room will get empty and i will change the candles for the second time.
The man stood up and walked to the bar. He was dressed a bit too porch for this place and the relaxed but well-balanced walk showed the confidence in himself. He gave me money with quite a lot of tips and when he turned away with the glass of wine in the right hand, he spook.
- Ideally, wisdom is total perspective -- seeing an object, event, or idea in all its pertinent relationships. Spinoza defined wisdom as seeing things sub specie eternitatis, in view of eternity; I suggest defining it as seeing things sub specie totius, in view of the whole.
Shall we have examples? Rain falls; you mourn that your tennis games must be postponed; you are not a philosopher. But you console yourself with the thought, "How grateful the parched earth will be for the rain!" You have seen the event in a larger perspective, and you are beginning to approach wisdom.
me i could expect him to give a bow after his speech. Only one man did not look at him and he actually did not pay much attention to any of the people who spoke out today. He was sitting near to the window and he was looking at the storm. He turned to the bar and looked at the man.
- On life's journey Faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night.
If a man lives a pure life nothing can destroy him;
If he has conquered greed nothing can limit his freedom.
He said it with the voice that seemed a song of a falling rain, so calm and so responsive so everyone stopped talking for a minute. But he turned back to the window and there was no continuation people started to talk again, firstly quietly and then louder.
The woman in the right corner was looking at light of the candle. Her eyes were like mirrors reflecting the game of the fire. She looked at the man sitting on the other side of the table to her and she talked with the slight Russian accent.
- Plato says that "the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love." (3) One of the most crucial tasks of post-totalitarian Russian philosophy is to distinguish within itself two types of "wholeness."
Totality, that is to say the ability not only to analyze but to synthesize concepts by a total act of loving understanding;
The totality of love must be distinguished from the totalitarity of power, and Russian philosophy still has a way to go before assimilating all the nuances of this distinction. It must free itself from totalitarian temptations while at the same time master the ways of "total wisdom," which in Russian is synonymous with total purity (tselomudrie) , the chief characteristic of Sophia.
The talk became more and more distinctive so i could hear only separate phrases.
- ...Wisdom is the use of one’s intelligence and experience as mediated by values toward the achievement of a common good through...
- ...Having knowledge...
- ...Way of being or acting...
- ...Versed in art or science..
It made me tired a bit so i stopped listening and i poured myself a glass of wine. I looked at the people, i looked at the storm outside, i looked at the fire of the candles. My head was full of thoughts but they were moving so slowly so i did not notice how one man came up to the bar and was looking at me. I came to him.
- Can i help you?
- So what does it mean, oh, wise one?
He looked at me with the smile.
- I do not know, that’s why i keep asking.
***
P.s.: I hope you enjoy reading it and you understood what i wanted to show and share with you. I do applogize if any of people who have posted the comment got inappropriate personal description in this post, i just wanted to make the words you said personallized to remind you that behind any idea there is a person as you or me. We should respect each other's thoughts and learn from each other and then i suppose we would be approaching a slight degree of wisdom.
