It’s Mother’s Day in North America. Greetings to all the moms out there! I hope your day is filled with love, joy and laughter. Many of us would describe our moms as wise. As I continue my May Simple Living Sunday tribute to qualities I admire in my mum, today’s post looks at the difference between wisdom and knowledge, and how we can cultivate wisdom in our lives.
Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.
Jimi Hendrix
Three simple pleasures and highlights
Continuing my practice of celebrating the simple things in life, here are three simple pleasures and highlights of the last week.
- On Sunday, we attended our great-niece’s baptism. After two years of postponed and cancelled celebrations, it felt great to be able to celebrate the newest addition to our family.
- I travelled to Milwaukee for a couple of days of meetings with the professional association that I volunteer with. This was my first trip since January, 2020. Again, following two years of cancelled events and virtual meetings, it was so wonderful to see my friends and colleagues again.
- My daughter Colleen started her summer co-op job this week. I’m excited for her to get some practical experience related to her college program.
For the first time, this week really felt like a normal pre-pandemic week. Let’s hope it continues.
This week’s simple living focus: wisdom and knowledge are not the same
There’s no arguing that our society has become better educated with each generation. But, I’d argue that quest for knowledge and education hasn’t increased our collective wisdom.
Psychologists describe wisdom as the integration of knowledge, experience, and deep understanding, along with a tolerance for the uncertainties of life. I would add a healthy dose of common sense into the mix as an essential requirement.
Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.
Albert Einstein
Education is not a prerequisite for wisdom. We all know people who are extremely intelligent and educated, but lack the life experience to be wise. On the other hand, some of the world’s wisest people have very little education.
My mum grew up in a large family where money was scarce. As one of the older of 15 children, she had to leave school at a young age to make her own way in the world. She has very little formal education, yet she is one of the wisest people I know.
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Society undervalues wisdom
As a lifelong learner, I’m a big believer in the value of education. However, in many ways I think society overvalues education, and undervalues wisdom. This is especially true in most workplaces.
Businesses hire and pay people based on education. If you have a master’s degree and no practical experience, it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll be paid more than your lesser-educated co-worker who has spent years amassing wisdom and a deep understanding of the inner workings of the business.
Over the years, I have worked with some highly-intelligent and well-educated people. Many of them lacked the experience to make sound decisions. I’ve noticed that those who sought the wisdom of others to broaden their knowledge and improve their decision-making skills were generally more successful than those who didn’t.
For an interesting take on the difference between knowledge and wisdom, check out this video from Modern Elder Academy. Arthur C. Brooks, Harvard Professor and author of From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life, suggests organizations need to be smarter about holding on to institutional knowledge. He envisions a formalized role enabling “wisdom workers” to add value as coaches and mentors—helping educated knowledge workers understand the context of their work.
The idea of a role for wisdom workers makes so much sense. Yet, the prevalence of early retirement incentive programs is proof that most businesses see older workers as a liability to be taken care of as soon as possible. Will the future of work and the post-pandemic “great resignation” take care of that? Time will tell.
Three things to do this week
No matter where you are in your life journey, the cool thing about wisdom is you can cultivate it every day. Here are three things to do this week to further your journey from knowledge to wisdom.
Identify the wise people in your life
Make a list of the wisest people in your life. Reflect on what makes them wise, and what you’ve learned from them. If you really want to make them feel good, reach out and thank them for helping you grow your wisdom. Even better, find ways to use them as informal mentors so you can learn more from them.
Take note of areas where you have wisdom
No matter where you are in your life, chances are there are some areas where you are sharing your wisdom and experience with others. Make a note of these areas. Reflect on how you arrived at a state of wisdom for this particular task or topic. Think of ways you can share your experience with others.
Cultivate wisdom daily
Knowledge comes from learning. Wisdom comes from living.
Anthony Douglas Williams
Good or bad, every experience in life is a growth opportunity. When things go your way this week, and especially when they don’t, ask yourself what you can learn from what has happened. There’s no better way to cultivate wisdom than by reflecting on life experience and treating everything as a chance to learn and grow.
What else can we do to cultivate wisdom in our lives? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.
I completely agree with wisdom being undervalued in our society. When I was a young brattier version of myself, I used to make fun of my sister who I believed to be book-smart compared to me (I thought I was rather street-smart) and I guess I wanted to differentiate that between us because I felt like my type of smarts was never recognized in my family or in traditional institution (whereby they only look at academic success, etc)… now that I am older, I recognize that everyone is unique in the way they take in information and how they affect others…
It’s interesting that the value we put on academic smarts begins at a young age. We all know many people who are book-smart but have very little common sense or practical ability. You’re right that traditional institutions—and most corporations—don’t value wisdom. I’d love to see that change but I don’t expect to see it happen anytime soon.
I agree, wisdom can come from so many sources and formal education doesn’t necessarily translate to wisdom even over time. Thank you for the reminder to continually learn and grow!
Thanks for reading and commenting. With so much information at our fingertips these days, it’s easy to think wisdom doesn’t matter. Without the benefit of wisdom, though, it can be hard to make sense of that information.
Completely agree that wisdom comes from living – as long as we are present, noticing, and reflecting as we experience life we are building wisdom. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Monty. I think the “noticing and reflecting” part is important. I would add listening to the list, too. The wisest people listen, reflect, and then speak!