When I think of wisdom, I think of King Solomon and the Greek sage Socrates, the man often referred to as “the wisest man who lived.”
We all know the story of King Solomon, who chose wisdom above wealth and a large kingdom – and ended up receiving it all.
Socrates made wisdom into a career, calling himself a philosopher, which in ancient Greek means lover of wisdom. It is said that Socrates was married to a nagging wife and preferred to spend his days on the market square, sharing his wisdom with youngsters. He believed that learning and teaching are best done through questions and had a habit of replying to all questions with a question of his own.
His Socratic method laid the groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy. Asking political-philosophic questions of his students, he was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens. He was sentenced to death by hemlock poisoning in 399 B.C. and accepted this judgment rather than fleeing into exile.
Before he died, he was asked what he knew. His answer? “All I know is that I don’t know.”
One cannot buy wisdom or take a course or degree in it. To define it is close to impossible. Reading books could create wisdom but the words in books only turn to wisdom when they become part of a person’s life ethic.
Wisdom encompasses common sense and true human understanding, integrity, character and knowing the difference between right and wrong, valuing truth and the quality of life.
One cannot give or take wisdom away but you can look for it and share it. The search for wisdom, will not satisfy your hunger for it, but rather make you more hungry, more passionate to find it.
A world where people put wisdom at the top of their wish list, could be called paradise. And like Solomon, the people who seek this rare human quality above other, more practical commodities, are rewarded with the key to living – and dying – without fear and with great joy and fulfillment.
