Knowledge/Wisdom
Knowledge and information are highly valued. I used to go to the library to search for information. I listened to my teachers who guided me to gain knowledge. All of this was about what I knew: facts, information, and skills acquired through experience or education. These facts, and this information, were worn like badges of honour—the 100% on a test, the ‘A’ grade on an essay.
No one talked to me about wisdom. No one taught me the power of discernment, or the how to judge what is true or right, or how to be discreet in my word and actions, though my parents tried, I’m sure.
These are the wisdom qualities that can come with age, though not all older people are wise. The passage of years, however, gives us the opportunity to acquire wisdom through attention to our inner life.
Rumi, the great Persian mystical Sufi poet, helps us differentiate between these two important human qualities.
He tells us: “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise, so I am changing myself.”
In our younger years we were eager to show off our knowledge, to ‘strut our stuff’ and to be recognised. In our elder years we have the opportunity to look inside and see what needs changing. With our willingness to pay attention, we can change how we respond to the world around us—to our closest circle and to the horrors of the latest news cycle. We can shift our knee-jerk reactions to more measured and considered responses. We can transform our ossified opinions to flexible curiosity. We can deconstruct that which limits us and construct an open, fluid, compassionate response to the world.
This is part of the inner work of the elder, an unending process of refinement and maturing.