To gain wisdom is a great, one might even say, a great achievement. And not everyone, even at a very advanced age, can boast of it. Wisdom is a value that comes to a person over the years. It is impossible to be young and wise. But age itself does not make a person wise. One must strive for wisdom, and not just wait for it. Wisdom is not just knowledge, experience, prudence – it is above all calmness, it is the absence of unnecessary emotions that overshadow the mind. A wise person is a calm person, he looks at life with an understanding of its meaning. He knows how to accept life as it is, seeing in everything that happens in it a definite goal. In youth, when people’s senses are all aggravated, when they more often react to everything, what is happening in their life is rather impulsive and very rarely ponder what is happening – they are very far from wisdom, because they lack the calm and poise that come over the years. Feelings, emotions, heightened instincts, and of course the lack of the necessary knowledge and experience – all this prevents people from being wise. In this article I will tell you about how people, whom I personally consider to be very wise, from their words, have gained this great value.
To begin with, it should be said that in order to gain wisdom it is necessary to feel, and if possible, to understand its value. And the sooner a person sees in wisdom a great value for himself, the faster he will begin to strive for it. And you can strive for it in different ways. And the first of them, of course, is the acquisition of knowledge. Knowledge is the key to understanding this world and oneself. We came to this world to study, but each of us does it our own way, someone learns from the mistakes of others, and someone from our own. And the one who does not study at all teaches others with his negative example. It is best to strive for wisdom through the knowledge of the wisdom of ancestors, that is, learning from someone else’s experience. The ability not to step on the rake that other people stepped on is a colossal achievement. As Confucius said: “Man has three ways to know wisdom: the first, the most noble, – thinking; the second, easiest, is imitation; the third, the most bitter, is experience. ” To learn wisdom through reflection, you need to get knowledge and think it over. That is, you need to study this world. And we all seem to begin to do this from an early age, when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also gain knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But at the same time, only a few of us become wise. These are those people who more than others have realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and have dedicated their lives to an active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. To learn wisdom through reflection, you need to get knowledge and think it over. That is, you need to study this world. And we all seem to begin to do this from an early age, when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also gain knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But at the same time, only a few of us become wise. These are those people who more than others have realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and have dedicated their lives to an active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. To learn wisdom through reflection, you need to get knowledge and think it over. That is, you need to study this world. And we all seem to begin to do this from an early age, when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also gain knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But at the same time, only a few of us become wise. These are those people who more than others have realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and have dedicated their lives to an active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also get knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But at the same time, only a few of us become wise. These are those people who more than others have realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and have dedicated their lives to an active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. when we learn something from our parents and other people around us, and also get knowledge at school and other educational institutions. But at the same time, only a few of us become wise. These are those people who more than others have realized the importance of knowledge and developed thinking that helps to use this knowledge, and have dedicated their lives to an active knowledge of the world and themselves. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple. Judge for yourself what wisdom is like not a constant pursuit of knowledge, which never happens much. A sage is an eternal disciple.
And yet, more important in this matter is the time during which a person cognizes this world. This is the time of life that is allocated to each of us and which we need to use correctly, and not just burn it. First, a person learns to satisfy his most urgent needs. Then he forms his own system of values, deciding what is important for him in this life and what is not and develops according to it. Then he becomes more mature, removing all sorts of nonsense and unviable childhood dreams from his life, unless, of course, he develops, and does not get stuck in his teens and youths. And only then he comes to the first grains of wisdom. Thus, wisdom is preceded by the maturity of the mind, because it is the mature mind that is able to perceive life as rationally as possible, not succumbing to the influence of its animal essence. And the manifestation is complete, absolute wisdom is peace – this is its main symptom. And it, if not cool, comes over the years. A calm person is a reasonable, thinking, patient, not fussy, able to control himself person. He is also a very observant and attentive person – he constantly observes himself and other people, and thanks to this he sees and understands a lot. Such he can only be at a certain age, when all his strongest feelings fade away and he begins to perceive life mainly with the help of the mind. But, as I said, do not think that wisdom comes on its own – you can live up to gray hair and never become a wise person. For wisdom is the result of much work on oneself. You can, of course, gain some kind of wisdom without any work, because we all become calmer with age and gain some experience. But such wisdom, which came to a person not thanks to his work on himself, but only through age, is not as rich as that which was the result of his serious work. From this there are not so many wise people in our society. Most people, when they grow old, do not turn into sages, but into young children who can hardly teach the young generation anything. Namely for this, man needs wisdom.
Yes, the meaning of wisdom is precisely to transmit it in a certain form to subsequent generations. Therefore, in order to find it, a person needs motivation in the form of a goal – to teach someone something very useful, directly related to people’s life. That is, if you want to become a wise person, then you need to decide – to whom and why you will transfer your wisdom. It can be your children, students, or even all those people who will be interested in your knowledge and experience. And such will always be found. You can often hear that young people do not want to learn anything, that they repeat the mistakes of their fathers and grandfathers and prefer to fill in bumps on their own. But it is not so. It would be more correct to say that most people, including very young ones, do not want to learn anything from anyone – they do not want to learn from the experience of their ancestors. Moreover, some of them do not learn from their own experience. But there are people [they have always been, are and will be] who are happy to adopt the experience of wiser people. For them, the wisdom of generations is a tremendous value, which they long for to master, and then pass it on to the next generation. So they need wise people who will become teachers for them. I believe that humanity should grow up and grow wiser. All subsequent generations as a whole should be smarter than previous ones. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of our human existence. So to become wise in order to make future generations even wiser is a very worthy goal for a person. But it is obvious that not all people are suitable for it. Therefore, not all of us are sufficiently motivated to gain wisdom. Many simply do not need it – they do not see the point in it.
If you are one of those people who see the meaning of wisdom for themselves and want to find it, then like Confucius, I advise you to do this through reflection, or rather, through the acquisition of knowledge and the development of your thinking. To become wise, you need to actively explore the world and solve a variety of problems and tasks that are directly related to people’s lives. And the wider your worldview is, the better. Good knowledge only in some particular field can make a person a good specialist, but not a sage, because in many other matters related to life, he will be blind. And since a person cannot know everything, in order to gain a breadth of knowledge, he needs to develop his thinking in order not only to be a knowledgeable person, but to be a person – seeking knowledge and constantly knowing this world. For he who is wise knows that he knows nothing, as Socrates said. And we don’t know much. And you need to know about this. You see, friends, the true truth is what you constantly need to look for. This is one of the meanings of life – not to know, but to know. The truth is somewhere near. And the sage knows that she will always be inaccessible to the understanding of man, she is always hidden from his eyes. We can know only part of the truth – that which is accessible to us and perhaps even allowed to know. But having learned something, having discovered something for himself, having received an answer to his question, a person will simultaneously receive many new questions, he will encounter many new secrets that must be discovered, studied, learned in order to learn even more. Therefore, a wise person is a person who is always open to everything new. This is a person who will know the world until the last breath. You also need to be prepared for this. I would even say – you need to want this. Certainty does not need a wise person. He knows that his knowledge is not complete, no matter how much he knows.
I cannot and will not argue that each person should strive for something great, should want to realize himself fully, should live with the highest values and ultimately become a sage. This is a matter of personal preference, and maybe the purpose of the person. Life often shows us that everyone should be in their place. I know many people who are not interested in anything in life, except for what is connected with their everyday life. They eat, drink, sleep, have fun, enjoy simple things and they don’t need anything else, nothing at all. They are happy from the limited lifestyle they have. So, perhaps it should be so. Their life should be just that. They do not need anything higher, great, outstanding, because they are not able to understand this. And there are people who cannot live a limited life, they are simply torn apart from the inside if they don’t know, study, discover, improve themselves and realize their personal potential. Remember the same Lomonosov, well, he could not live the way other people lived in his village – he wanted more, he was born for more. And he came to this greater. Therefore, to be or not to be wise is not even possible for a person to choose, but his purpose. Be that as it may, if you have a desire to gain wisdom for old age – realize it. For it is better to regret what he did than what he did not. he was born for more. And he came to this greater. Therefore, to be or not to be wise – this is perhaps not even a person’s choice, but his destiny. Be that as it may, if you have a desire to gain wisdom for old age – realize it. For it is better to regret what he did than what he did not. he was born for more. And he came to this greater. Therefore, to be or not to be wise – this is perhaps not even a person’s choice, but his destiny. Be that as it may, if you have a desire to gain wisdom for old age – realize it. For it is better to regret what he did than what he did not.
Some people begin to strive for wisdom only after they encounter negative shocks in their lives. Severe shocks often force people to rethink their lives and find new values in them. But what matters is not what causes a person to become wise, it is much more important that, having embarked on the path of a sage, a person will take the first and most important step in the direction of wisdom. He is aware of the highest value in this life that he wants to possess. You need to fall in love with wisdom in order to begin to actively strive for it. After all, this path is endless, you can go along it forever. But the one who chooses it for himself, life will meet and will help in every way. For he who has, it will be given to him and increase, and he who does not have, that which he has is taken away.
