StillJustJames
1 min readJan 25, 2019

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No, Vincent, wisdom is defined as the combination of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Without experience, or knowledge, or good judgment, no wisdom. Wisdom has to be based upon direct personal experience, not just someone else’s reported experience (because that is, at best, just knowledge).

Personally, I feel that without understanding, rather than just knowledge, you can’t have wisdom. The difference between them is a coherency that must be maintained as an ongoing developing model of reality that excludes nothing out-of-hand based merely on belief, self-interest, or preference; nor includes magical thinking, such as when you invent something to bridge a void in your knowledge, or ignore an obvious incongruity based merely on belief, self-interest, or preference.

Until that first atomic bomb exploded in the Nevada desert, Oppenheimer had no wisdom regarding the use of such a technology — nor did any one else. As he experienced it exploding, he realized the absolute desolation of what he had helped create, and he quoted the Bhagavad Gita. It is the epitomization of what we are challenged by in the practice of modern science — an insurmountable barrier to the development of wisdom.

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StillJustJames
StillJustJames

Written by StillJustJames

There is a way of seeing the world different. Discover the Responsive Naturing all around you, and learn the Path of Great Responsiveness Meditation.

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