What Makes Us Wise?

Recent quiet time on this blog induced by excessive cycling, the surrender to Facebook and a workload that simply refuses to diminish are my excuses for depriving you of my musings, hopefully some of you still haven't given up on me and will return to read this post... if so, Welcome back!

The autumn is almost upon us and if you live in the UK, it has been since about June. A lot of time for reflection in all this rain and a great quote by Yoko Ono I saw recently got me thinking about age, wisdom - why some grow wise and others just grow old.

Yoko Ono was asked recently whether age matters in her opinion, to which she answered: "The advancing of age matters when it gives you experience - the kind that adds wisdom, power and self-confidence to you - and thereby makes you a more attractive individual for the satisfaction and joy of you, your family, your friends and the world."

This captures the sensation I woke up with today - a dream of two racing cars, one symbolising the left brain and the other symbolising the right brain. These two cars were in a very close competition, side by side, each in turn inching away in front of the other only to be caught up and challenged again. The dream ended with a strong realisation about bridge-building, how wisdom is really about bridging the two halves of how we function.

On one hand we are emotional beings and emotions sometimes take control of us completely and experiences create many connections in the part of our brain which deals with emotion. Many religions, even psychoanalysis, tries to temper the emotions and make us think about the consequences of irrational, emotional behaviour - whether it is through ethics, thinking about treating others the way you wish to be treated and so on.

However, someone also recently pointed out that radicalisation is about emotions devoid of reason and why radicalism is so infectious particularly among younger people is that many don't have a clear understanding of the rational implications of radicalism, nor a strong ingrained will to prevent human suffering in all its forms. This expert continued to point out that the reason Islamic radicalism is so dangerous is because emotions have been infused with Islamic rationalisation, apparently lending legitimacy to otherwise irrational emotional desires of hurting fellow human beings. And the most depressing of all, whether we are talking about politicians, Islamic radicals or society at large is that the desire to eliminate human suffering, today and in the future is still not the top priority of our actions - we think human suffering can be justified in the name of the right cause.

On the other hand pure reason and rationalisation without the emotional dimension is no good either. I once read that the reason why Nazism was so destructive during WWII was through its ability to institutionalise and rationalise the process of elimination of those less desirable in Hitler's Germany. The cold rationalisation and institutionalising of the most horrific human atrocities somehow made it easier for people in all parts of the Nazi bureaucracy not to think of the human (emotional) consequences of their actions - how many lives were lost, families torn apart, contributions is science, literature, art, medicine etc. never realised as nascent careers or even young lives were snuffed out through an effective process of elimination, logistically perfect and emotionally completely sterile, revealing the horror of pure rationalisation unrestrained from emotional considerations.

How does one navigate this minefield of emotion and reason. How does one make sure in every case we ensure the consequences of our actions are always on the top of our minds and that we methodically strive to eliminate destructive thoughts and behaviour from ourselves and focus on nurturing the good in each of us? Is that was true wisdom is? The ability understand others and an ability to consistently choose a self-less path where we refrain from greed, jealousy, anger, hatred, aggression and so on. Is it that wisdom really gives us a distance to things, a weariness to react to soon, judge too quickly, but instead to be determined in looking for and seeing the big picture, understanding how many things are really interconnected and attacking one may indeed simply worsen the other thing we'd rather keep. Is wisdom the ability to understand cause and consequence, the capacity to judge emotion and reason side by side, not favouring either on the expense of the other - but indeed seeing the world as a whole and bigger than the sum of its parts?

Comments

[Andy]

nice post. have you read 'The man who mistook his wife for a hat' by Oliver Sacks? Although it doesn't tackle social issues on the scale you're musing over, it presents what Sacks calls "romantic neurology" and the insight is similar: that emotions and personal experience can never be removed from even the most rational analysis.
Andy

[Cecilia]

and the link again submitted by G: there was something wrong with the original so here it is again http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/immeasurables_love_compassion_equanimity_rejoicing.html

[Cecilia]

Excellent comment G - thanks for that. I confess to liking the Buddhist approach to life, but didn't realise just how much my views reflect it. You live and learn!

[G]

Interesting post, your definition of wisdom at the end of the post is surprisingly similar to "upekkha" in Buddhism; usually translated as "equanimity":

"Not to distinguish between friend, enemy or stranger, but regard every sentient being as equal. It is a clear-minded tranquil state of mind - not being overpowered by delusions, mental dullness or agitation."
(taken from http://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/immeasurables_love_compassion_equanimity_rejoicing.html)

In one of the main texts, the Dhammapada, it also makes reference to the fact that some people grow old and others wise - perhaps you should look into it!

That's a wonderful quote from Yoko Ono too, I'd not heard that before.