THE NOT SO EASY QUESTION...

Life is spent answering innumerable questions. Some easy. Some not so easy. Answers to some questions seem too obvious on the face of it. Universal truths are not debated over, and some answers are accepted without much introspection. Some questions are pondered upon for eons and yet for them we do not receive a unanimous answer. Huge dispersion in perceptions exists while such questions are thrown on our faces.

AN EASY QUESTION:

What is important – Knowledge or Wisdom?

All these years, we’ve been hearing from almost everyone that we should be knowledgeable and wise in our thoughts, words and deeds. Easier said than done it is. Something which has been boggling my mind for long is the difference between the very terms “knowledge” and “wisdom”, and if one could sustain in this multiverse (it’s no longer a universe!) without any one of them. And which one of them should be the predominant influential factor driving our lives. Many of us may perceive knowledge and wisdom to be perplexingly similar terms going hand in hand inevitably. I would differentiate the two with a simple example.

Knowledge is the understanding that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is the understanding that you don’t put tomatoes in fruit salads.

In my opinion wisdom can be associated with logic. An informal definition of wisdom would be logical and ethical truths attained from gaining perspective on an issue, but the perspective is STILL relative to the person’s values. Knowledge is the accumulation of predetermined information and facts. It has got very little to do with morals and values of a person, and hence it is not relative. For example, a thief might tell you that it’s wise to never break into a house from the front door, but rather through the back door, and while this is seemingly logical, it may not be wise to an upstanding non-criminal citizen, even if he has the knowledge that he needs to barge in through the back door to break into a house.

Knowledge is something which can be transcended through generations. But wisdom is acquired individually through a holistic approach to a particular situation. Knowledge is the form (external) and wisdom is the essence (internal). When the argument continues as to which of them is more important, I for one would like to put forth some questions before coming to a decision.

SOME NOT SO EASY QUESTIONS!

What point is knowledge, if it doesn’t exist to serve wisdom? What is more important? The external facts or the internal experience? Is it only the physical evidence that we seek? Or do we seek “context” (and the essence within). Can life be sustained outside of that context? What is a corpse, without a spirit or essence to move it? What is an (external) effect without a (internal) cause?

When I say, “I feel fine.” It is not the external knowledge which comes out as the response. It is more than just an expression of my internal feeling and it is an expression of the continuum of my experience, or “context”, which includes both my emotional state and my physical state. Wisdom seems to involve our minds and bodies in harmony. A musician who does not play spontaneously involving his mind, body, and “soul” loses the wisdom in his art. How do we argue that a musician lacks the knowledge of music? Wisdom is something which sometimes is equipped within us, which puts its significance beyond mere “learning” to do something. The fact that babies need to be held, hugged, cuddled, and loved is something virtually everyone in the world could have told. It is a wisdom we all possess even if we never experienced it ourselves.

The relationship between knowledge, understanding and wisdom may be brought out by a scenario: A man is on a rail-road track. There is a train heading in his direction, fast approaching.

Knowledge tells him: The train is on the track; I am on the track; the train is headed towards me. And that is the extent of knowledge.

Understanding tells him: The train will eventually hit me (this being based on what “knowledge” told him). And that is the extent of understanding.

Wisdom tells him: I have to get off of the rail-road track, in order to avoid getting hit (thus applying the knowledge/understanding that he has acquired). The importance of wisdom and the dependence of life on it are unfathomable in this scenario, and many more scenarios on which life builds upon.

Acquire Knowledge. Be Wise. Experience the Essence.

This post was written by C. Gokul, I year PGDM.