Virtue: Wisdom
The Dedicant Handbook defines wisdom as follows: “Good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response.“ Collins English dictionary defines wisdom as, “the ability to use your knowledge and experience in order to make sensible decisions or judgments.” I also find it interesting that a Google search of “wisdom” brings up a large number of links that reference religious sites showing that wisdom is definitely a valued trait in our religious leaders.
Who and What is Wise? Making a list of wise people, a few names come to mind. The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the first and evokes images of an extremely wise, knowing person. He is a scholar, traveler, and has immense experience with people. Of course Athena and Minerva were both wise, able to see truths and discern the right course of action but we would expect that of the Divine. Finally, Morpheus from The Matrix understood better than anybody how and what the Matrix was and how it controlled humankind.
Examining Definitions: The Dedicant Handbook has a fairly good definition of wisdom because it describes a bit of the process and not just a trait. Wisdom is learned through experience and time; it careful analysis based on a mix of knowledge, intuition, and understanding. The only change I might make to the Dedicant Handbook is to incorporate a bit of the Collins dictionary definition, “Good judgement learned through knowledge and experience, to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the most sensible course of action or response.”
Seeking the Mythology and History: Wisdom is frequently demonstrated in mythology, history, and even entertainment. Obi Wan Kenobi of Star Wars was old and wise. Sure he studied the mythical “Force” but he is a scholar that absorbed knowledge and learned control to guide his decision-making. In the end of the first movie, he wisely chose to lose his battle with Vader because he knew it would change him in ways that would benefit his cause, even with his own physical demise. Many say Benjamin Franklin was a wise person in early American history. He was undoubtedly knowledgeable but he used his broad knowledge to invent, write, publish, and lead the Revolution movement.
The Virtue and the Self: I can think of several situations almost immediately where I have been wise, and just as many (if not more) where I was unwise. In all of them, applying experience and extrapolating the best course of action seems to be the predominant skill to apply wisdom. Wisdom seems to come with a price too. Many poor choices and decisions I have made may have been because I lacked experience, and thus wisdom. This is especially true of my first marriage! And in learning from these decisions, it helps one grow and learn to make better decisions. Wisdom seems to be the accumulation of experiences and knowledge that lead to better insights and decision-making. And yet I don’t think being wise is necessarily all about having many experiences all the time. One can be wise simply by pursuing knowledge and experience, and learning to make the best decisions.
My Understanding of the Virtue: I’ve covered a lot about wisdom and yet forming a straightforward and clear definition is not simple. Wisdom is definitely a virtue, and it belongs to the priestly class triad defined by Dumezil. Of all the examples of wise people that come to mind, many of them are spiritual leaders of some sort and they are able to quickly digest information, analyze it in light of their broad knowledge and experience, and finally formulate the best decision.
It is certainly something we should strive to attain, and being wise may occur in the pursuit of wisdom, not just in possessing wisdom like a book of history. Wisdom is a goal and not an end-product. Seeking wisdom and trying to become wiser is the largest part of this virtue as long as the effort leads to growth. I say this because even a “wise” person can make a mistake. Learning from our mistakes leads to greater wisdom and the ability to discern the correct path.
Sites Referenced
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/wisdom
https://www.adf.org/members/training/dp/dp-manual-web/index.html