Lao Voices

From my previous post of Concentration Permits Wisdom to Arise, some good point was made by Padek that, “I am sure concentration is a very important element of wisdom but the ability to causally relate information to your environment (adapt, optimize) is much more important IMHO.” Which I also think is true. I came upon the topic of wisdom and compassion on my reading and thought it’s interesting, so what is wisdom?

Some people believe that compassion or love (the two are very similar) is the most important spiritual quality, but they fail to give any attention to wisdom. The result is that you can end up being a good-hearted fool, a very kind person but with little or no understanding.

It is not wisdom if we simply believe what we are told. True wisdom is to directly see and understand for ourselves. At this level then wisdom is to keep an open mind rather than being closed-minded, listening to other points of view rather than being bigoted; to carefully examine facts that contradict our beliefs, rather than burying our heads in the sand; to be objective rather than prejudiced; to take time about forming opinions and beliefs rather than just accepting the first or most emotional thing that is offered to us. To always be ready to change our beliefs when facts that contradict them are presented to us, that is wisdom.

A person who does this is certainly wise and is certain to eventually arrive at true understanding. The path of just believing what you are told is easy. We should take the path that requires courage, patience, flexibility, and intelligence.