Some penultimate sources of wisdom

Main idea: Wisdom may be gained as experience teaches the application of knowledge, philosophy equips for clarity of thought, and theology trains our thinking and awareness of spiritual context.

Close at hand, so easily perceived,

Event or context guiding choices.

And we assume in them is wisdom,

While God the Spirit sits, waiting and grieved.

(‘Circumstances’ by Laura Springer)

We assume that circumstances can inform wise choices. While this is true in part, God is the ultimate source of wisdom, but there are penultimate sources. (1) Experience teaches wisdom when one reflects sufficiently, whether on one's own experience or that I of another, to learn the proper application of knowledge or avoid its improper use. (2) Philosophy teaches wisdom when one trains the mind to think beyond perception to essences and causes and the like, seeing reality a bit more clearly. (3) Theology teaches wisdom when one trains the soul to understand in the context the big ideas about God and his works.

I am sure there are more sources, but these come to mind today.

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(C) Laura Springer

Musings of a peripatetic wannabe-sage by Laura Springer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License..