“We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom (and). The world henceforth will be run by synthesizers, people able to put together the right information at the right time, think critically about it, and make important choices wisely.” E.O. Wilson.
A term I use a lot with specific purpose within this blog is wisdom (e.g., see link). I have used it over 123 times to date before this post. It can be used in several ways depending on the discipline and topic within which it is used. The thesaurus has over 49 synonyms for wisdom and over 27 antonyms. Notably, wisdom is linked directly to intelligence, but it is not linked to intellect. Summarized simply, wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, self-transcendence, and non-attachment, and virtues such as ethics and benevolence. It’s the application of knowledge for overall good. We live in a exponentially expanding world of technology with immense intellect, but poor choices exacerbating our global problems because we seem incapable (or unwilling) of using wisdom (e.g., see early post Getting to Transformation 2 – Choosing Wisely {July 2018})
When Rachel Carson warned us of using pesticides (especially DDT) in the 1960s, a supporter noted that the scientists that advocated using poisons on our food never used wisdom to question whether they were good or bad for humanity and the environment. These scientists were practical people. They saw a problem and DDT resolved that problem. In the many centuries since the Renaissance, we have used logic and rationality to advance our technology (intellect), but rarely have we used intelligence about when, and if, a technology ought to be used. In a centuries long rush to modernity and technology divorced from philosophical discussion we created a world where technologists ruled, abetted by narrow minded economists, to achieve goals that made poor sense when viewed through a lens of wisdom. Individually, even the less bright intellects of society, have used innate wisdom to ponder the intelligence of intellectual choices as being good to pursue. We now know that the great intellects that spawned the atomic era had their doubts when it came to developing a bomb from that technology, but went ahead anyway, because the military and political minds wanted a useful weapon.
While today’s kids watch superhero movies, I grew up in an era of cold war fear, and recall fun films of nuclear holocaust like Fail Safe, Dr Strangelove, On The Beach, and The Day After, et.al., that showed us what happens when wisdom is taken out of the picture. But why did (do) we have to get to DEFCOM-1 before our ‘leaders’ make a wise choice that MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) is a bad decision to even contemplate. I still recall the Cuban Missile crisis of 1962, and as a young boy, wondering if I would see the sun rise the next day. It was obvious from the start that any polices of nuclear war were insane. Fortunately, back in 1962 some wise thinking at the last minute averted a global holocaust, but why did we have to get to the edge of destruction before we used wisdom?
Our whole global society is run by intellect in the boardrooms and dark shadowy places where policy is determined, usually by those where money, power, and control dominate their thinking – absolutely no wisdom. And yet we let these cockroaches run our lives! Technology has given us a wonderful standard of living, but when it is divorced from quality of life where wisdom is used creates problems. When designed and used from an enlightened consciousness it can take all of humanity to even higher heights of wonder. Are we ready for that kind of leap? If the powers that be will not use wisdom, then it is up to us. Regardless of how powerless we think we might be, none of the leaders or corporate heads are using wisdom to resolve any problems. When anything is framed through economics and controlling power, then out welfare is not important.
While the Cabal and psychopaths may run the world, many well-meaning people down the hierarchy, either unwittingly or because of cooptation, push policies that do not serve life. We have reached a point where we, the people, must take charge. From what I see happening around the world, I don’t think that will be a problem as the powers that be continue their attack on our sovereignty.
In earlier posts I have talked about ‘The Cultural Creatives’ that are the carrier population for the emerging wisdom culture (see post links 1, 2 and 3). All over the planet, there are innovators for our culture, not so much in technologies as in beliefs, worldviews, values and ways of life. They are the unassuming opinion leaders, and participants in all the new social movements of the past 60 years who have time and again shaped others’ views, practices, and adoptions of these new ways. Their Green values and lifestyles and their values of inner development both psychological and spiritual are the key to the emerging new culture. New ‘Cultural Creatives’ surveys in Europe, Japan and the US all show the same trends.”
People everywhere use wisdom in their daily lives, yet for some reason allow those that lead us intellectually, politically, and financially to ignore it. It’s really quite mind-boggling to observe that contradiction. While we don’t use the wisdom that our indigenous ancestors and current indigenous peoples exhibit for life (see Wisdom of our ancestors 1, 2, and 3) most of us ponder consequences for our behaviors. We need to get back to philosophies like Ubuntu (see links 3 and 4). “Ubuntu” is an African expression of ancient wisdom, which is echoed by all ancient civilizations. It simply means “unity within community.”
Wisdom is being discerning of all knowledge. Most stupid people are not dumb or idiotic, many are intellectual with advanced degrees. But intellect and innate intelligence are not the same thing. The bulk of the stupid, have simply locked their beliefs into what has been termed ‘The myth of the given.’ “It’s not what you know that gets you into trouble, but what you do know that just ain’t so” Josh Billings.
Think about wisdom and violence. When has violence and war ever resolved any problem. Yes, there are ’winners’ and almost uncountable ‘losers’ but does anyone ever win? The conquerors may gain the land or resources, but hate and suffering remains and that ultimately always leads to more violence. It isn’t just war between humans that causes devastation, but the many millennia long war of humanity on the Earth. Is this any way to run a planet? If we are to survive as a species, then we need to seriously rethink our role as stewards and caretakers of the planet, instead of conquerors.
Animals do not defecate where they sleep or live. (I think they all head for my garden. There is so much Scat this winter from Deer, Elk, Bear, and medium sized animals of all kinds. I just found my bird feeders displaced by a small heard of Elk wandering through the neighborhood. I digress.) Yet, proverbially speaking, modern humanity does everywhere. Think about it! We have large animal feedlots where vast amounts of feces pollute water used to irrigate nearby fields of crops, and we wonder why we have so many problems with pathogen outbreaks. We use poisons to kill pests and maintain crop yields and wonder why overall health is declining. Wisdom tells us the answers but the system assures us that pollution and contamination somehow isn’t present? Like the opening quote, we are awash in information but so many people are ignorant, and even fewer think critically about most things in their lives.
If we all just started to think wisely and consciously about everything in our lives, we might be amazed in how the world would improve immediately. As a broad generalization, I think that good men in their masculine drive to find solutions and protect often forget to think wisely. Women have always tended to be more wise with thoughts of family and community taking central stage in their lives. I am starting to see men, more and more, turning towards the feminine energy as a way to see the world through more wise eyes. That is the transformation we need as the masculine and feminine energies come into balance and wisdom becomes commonplace in everything we think and do.
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