What is Wisdom?

The Myth of Wisdom

A lot of us equate wisdom with age, thinking that the older you get, the wiser you become. Although this often has some truth to it, it is not necessarily true in all cases. In this blog, I’ll explain what wisdom is, how it is gained, and why it is so important to attain.

The Wisdom Formula

Years ago, when I worked in addiction recovery centers (and later when I ran my own), I would give lectures to recovering addicts to help open their minds to new ways of thinking. There would be 25, sometimes 50, sometimes hundreds of people in the room, often antsy to move on to the next activity. There were individuals of all ages in these programs, but there were a lot of young people, specifically. 

Many of them felt foolish for how they were living their lives and desperately wanted to get to the point of understanding that they saw in their counselors, their sponsors, and others who were further along the path of recovery. Many of them felt trapped in a repetitive pattern of behavior that kept them unaware and had difficulty realizing and accepting the fact that they, too, could change and mature into better decision-making.

During this era, it came to me that wisdom is actually a simple formula and that by shining light on it, I could help these people see the path to gaining the perspective and maturity that wisdom brings. The formula is as follows:

Wisdom = Knowledge + Experience

So simple! But more importantly, it’s accurate. Let’s go through both of the components that add up to create wisdom.

Knowledge

Knowledge is intellect—it’s information developed and gained. You could be quite young and have tremendous intelligence. There are genius children who graduate college years before their peers even enter high school. There are preteen chess masters. These kids are brilliant, and yet they lack wisdom because they only have one of the two components. Without life experience, they haven’t developed the proper context with which to make mature, sound decisions, and they haven’t developed a robust perspective on life.

When you’re young and have a lot of knowledge, some people may call you a “smart-ass”. This is because highly intelligent individuals can have a tendency toward arrogance, which can blind them to their own ignorance. One may have an exceptional IQ and have little practical, functional advice to bring to the table. This brings us to the second part of the wisdom equation.

Experience

What the child genius lacks is experience. Just as knowledge alone is not enough for wisdom, experience alone is also insufficient. You could be an older person who has gained decades of experience but who seemingly hasn’t learned anything from it. 

Think of the adult who lives in the same cycles, complaining of never being able to “get ahead” in life. They are not wise, because they lack the knowledge to make different decisions for the future. They fall into the same patterns over and over again, gaining more of the same experiences, instead of growing into new ones. 

Putting Both Together

In order to gain true wisdom, we must be open to both knowledge and experience. Without an open mind, we are restricted to the limited knowledge that we already have. We cannot progress in our understanding of the world.

Without an open heart willing to take on new challenges and experiences, we fail to gain real context to draw from in our decision-making. When we have both an open mind and an open heart, we are able to live through new experiences, acquire new knowledge, and become wiser and mature in the process.

Having wisdom is really special—not only does it give us a solid foundation from which to move forward in life, but it also gives us the ability and opportunity to help others along their journeys. The wiser we become, the more compassion and empathy we develop, and vice versa. 

As we gain wisdom, we are able to see that we are no better than and no worse than others and that they are no better or worse than us. We see that the brilliant “kid” without experience is simply doing her best in life. We see that the older individual who is stuck in the same repetitive cycle is doing his best as well. We are able to look at others without judgment, offering help when needed. We are able to look at ourselves and others through the lens of Love.

I invite you to open yourself up to new experiences and knowledge so that you can gain even more wisdom as you go through life. Don’t expect to get it all at once—be gentle with yourself, stay present, and it will come to you.

Much Love,

Noel Neu