On Wisdom: Attributes: Universality

Music: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor
By  J.S. Bach. Sequenced by George Pollen.

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1. Wisdom is everywhere the same. 2. It has, however, a large and varied wardrobe. 3. Thus while wisdom may appear to be different at different times and in different places, stripped naked it is familiar to all. 4. Why, then, have various generations and cultures practiced such evils as human sacrifice, genocide, and slavery? 5. Practices come and go; wisdom abides. 6. Wisdom is not what is wise, but that by which it is wise; not what should be done, but why it should be done; not the answer, but the explanation. 7. Wisdom is simple; knowledge, complex. Wisdom is finite; knowledge, infinite. Wisdom is increasingly easy to comprehend the more one considers it; knowledge, increasingly difficult the more one knows. Wisdom leads to understanding; knowledge, to discovery. 8. The principles of wisdom are within the grasp of every child, but to grasp them is the work of a lifetime. Next: The Attributes of Wisdom: Rationality On Wisdom: Table of Contents