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Why
has man the word, wisdom in addition to the word, knowledge?
Why
thinks he it needed? What distinguishes the two?
Man’s
first mode of thought, in charge of matters outside of him, produces knowledge;
any
statement it makes about that realm is demonstratively correct or not;
physical
reality is the unimpeachable witness;
but
there is no way to make such a determination regarding claims made by
the
second mode of thought, devoted to matters which have no existence outside
of his mind, and which is the source of wisdom.
Knowledge
is the clear and certain understanding of the facts;
wisdom
is the assertion of facts which are unverifiable;
man
believes in and trusts both:
thus
are all of his perceptions of life in part questionable,
and
his thinking eternally frustrated by this innate split in its operation,
(which
you might also note, he by nature pretends ignorance of.)
Even
though men will on the one hand say that, knowing-the-facts
is
of supreme importance,
they
quite readily on the other say that nothing surpasses, wisdom;
overall,
the word/concept, wisdom is held in much higher, even singular regard
than mere, knowledge.
A
man can have extensive knowledge of farming,
and
be so recognized by his neighbors,
but
he is not considered comparable to the local shaman
who
has wisdom of the gods who determine the fate of the farmer’s crops;
and
neither is a student who has simply memorized dates and facts,
and
can claim knowledge of history
given
the esteem afforded a seasoned professor
who
is said to have wisdom regarding the subject.
When
men need help with physical problems they want someone with knowledge,
(a
doctor, a mechanic, an electrician),
but
when they believe they need help with problems which have no tangibility,
they
seek someone with wisdom, (a priest, a psychiatrist, a philosopher).
This
is the great impassable, and unacknowledged divide in the landscape of
man: the territory of Knowledge, and of Wisdom:
one
a place of testable statements;
the
other a land of unverifiable claims -- and yet,
the latter is held superior.
When
a man needs the mind’s first mode of thinking & knowledge
regarding
physical affairs, he understands that nothing else will do;
a
sociologist's theory of mob behavior will not set the broken leg he suffered
in a riot,
but
on the other hand he does not seek an explanation of his child’s untimely
death from a plumber;
men’s
minds instinctively turn to the source proper for the treating of their
problems;
they
go for knowledge when the problem is physical,
and
wisdom when it is not;
the
two realms could not be more clearly different,
nor
what is needed to tend them, distinct:
technicians
and priests;
men
with knowledge and men with wisdom;
men
whose statements can be proven correct or not,
and
men whose statements are impossible to verify --
and
the latter, all over the planet -- throughout history,
are
judged the more important and admirable.
A
man wanting to get-to-the-actual-bottom-of-things would eventually
do so
did
he but pursue the above noted arrangement to its confession;
a
person who can finally see right to the reason man needs the two concepts
of, knowledge and wisdom
will
see all that there is to see.
You
might also observe that the supra situation being continually played out
in
the entirety of humanity is also working the boards inside your
own head,
in
that life continues to introduce into your consciousness --
questions:
questions
which either pertain to things with a physical reality,
which
require a response of knowledge & facts,
or
questions concerning affairs which have no material substance,
which
have only wisdom to turn to.
This
rolling & tumbling goes on continually in all men's minds
with
them taking no notice of there being two distinct classes of questions
that
your
thoughts are given to entertain,
and
which have two totally different sources of responses,
which
are so commingled that if the washer was suddenly stopped –
you
would be unable to separate the socks from the shirts.
Not
realizing what is going on is a symptom of not facing the difference between
knowledge and wisdom, and the entirely different purposes they individually
serve.
While
combined, it is to keep the overall human parade on course and cohesive,
for
the select few the result is smoky, stifling confusion:
“Where
do I look for the specific answer to this quite specific question of mine?”
--
and
life, in its franchise spot in your brain, holds up two hands:
one
identifying the place to go for facts & knowledge;
the
other, the place for guesses & wisdom,
and
those born with ThatCertainQuestion
are pushed, same as everyone else --
“May the gods please guide me!” said the mystic as he jammed a screwdriver into a live switch box.
J