Knowledge and Wisdom

 

‘Knowledge is a deadly friend

if no-one sets the rules’

From ‘Epitaph’ by King Crimson (from the Album ‘In the Court of the Crimson King’)

‘Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not serving it with custard’.. or something like that!

What is more, I am wise enough to know that quoting from the Buddha (see above) is not likely to go down too well with some of my more theologically conservative friends. But I reckon that wisdom is to be celebrated wherever it may be found.

I am also aware that a blog post on the topic of ‘wisdom’ might have been better left until Epiphany when we celebrate the coming of the Wise Ones to Jesus, rather than writing this post at the beginning of Advent.

But, hey, there you go! (and I may be unlikely to post much come January!)

Although I have been reflecting a little on wisdom of late, I am not sure I have much wisdom to offer in this wee post. Just a musing… or two.

As a human race I suppose that we have never had more knowledge than we do now; but I fear that this knowledge is not often accompanied by wisdom. If ever we needed wise people and wise judgements it is surely now.

I read somewhere that ‘knowledge is the accumulation of facts and data, while wisdom is the ability to use that knowledge to make good decisions’. If so, then I would have to confess that I constantly pursue  the accumulation of facts and data (knowledge), but I am unsure how much wisdom I have, or to what extent I truly seek it. But I do want to seek wisdom, to thirst for it, crave it; and I certainly wish I had more of it! 

But how do I acquire wisdom? 

The more I have thought about this, the more it seems to me that the quest for wisdom is a spiritual quest. So I am seeking to pray about it, ponder it in God’s presence, read the parts of the Bible often referred to as ‘Wisdom literature’ to discover more, and to allow wisdom to shape me and permeate my mind and soul.

In the Bible, Wisdom (‘Sophia’) is often personified; she (and she is most definitely ‘she’!) is depicted as a person. What, I wonder, is the significance of that? And what is the relationship between Sophia and Logos (God’s Word, which became flesh in Jesus)?

Interesting questions, and much to ponder.

But the danger for me is that this pondering becomes a search for more knowledge about Wisdom, rather than the pursuit of Wisdom herself; and it is Wisdom that I am seeking.