No doubt about it, we live in a knowledge-saturated culture.
We can easily access information about any conceivable topic 24/7/365, usually
with only one or two clicks of a mouse or thumb. And as a result, we tend to
believe we are a wise people. After all, if wisdom and knowledge are
synonymous, our society is replete with it.
The problem is that wisdom and knowledge are not synonyms.
Knowledge is information – facts and opinions we’ve already learned or can
discover about a topic. As a culture, we’re overwhelmed with an ability to gain
knowledge. But knowledge is only one part of wisdom.
From the beginning of time and across cultures, wisdom has
actually been defined as “applied knowledge.”
Thus, wisdom entails much more than simple acquisition of information. In fact,
in order to be wise, a person must take two crucial steps beyond gaining
knowledge:
1. Parse through all the information to
discover the nuggets of truth
therein, discarding the rest;
2. Choose to apply that truth to one’s life in order to achieve a specific goal
or purpose.
When we look at it that way, it’s fair to say that our
culture – and many of us individually – are actually foolish most of the time.
For one thing, we don’t relish taking the time to weed through information. We
also live in a time when we’ve been (incorrectly) led to believe that truth is
relative, not absolute; thus, we struggle to find truth even when we seek it.
And, finally, we have a hard time wanting to diligently work toward the changes
that application of truth would necessitate, often preferring the path of least
resistance instead.
But if we don’t apply the truths found within the knowledge
at our fingertips, we cannot gain wisdom. If we choose to discount wisdom in
our own lives, we cannot adequately facilitate its acquisition in our children.
And, chillingly, the prophet Hosea told us the end result of that decision when
he warned that, “ [the] people perish
from a lack of wisdom.”
Obviously, that concept warrants serious consideration in
our own lives as adults. And we can’t legitimately expect our children to be
wise if we’re unwilling to engage in the process ourselves; “do as I say, not
as I do” falls flat every time. But it’s crucial for our kids and for our
culture that we help children grow toward wisdom with us; we can’t wait until
we “have it all together” before we begin to address it with our children.
One simple technique we can use in many situations with our
kids is to actively walk them through wisdom-growing questions:
1. What
do you know about this situation?
2. Of
everything you know, what one or two truths
can you pull out?
3. How
can you put that truth into practice
right now?
4. What
can I do to help?
Working through this process will cause kids to pause and
think. Doing it on a regular basis will develop in them a habit of mind that
will enable them to begin asking themselves these questions automatically, and
that will grow them toward wisdom over time. Given Hosea’s words as well as the
truth that wisdom is a genius quality, isn’t that something we’d want to do?
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