Knowledge Vs. Wisdom
Knowledge. Wisdom. What’s the difference? Learning this can make for a happy life or a life full of mistakes and pain.
Knowledge. Wisdom. The two terms are often used interchangeably. What’s the difference? Why distinguish between the two? I’ve talked with a lot of people about this subject and the response seems to be either “they are the same, so who cares” or “knowledge is something that turns into wisdom with experience”. While these two answers seem logical (depending on your point of view), I’d like to point out that the lesson provided in learning the difference is one that can help us all. Help us to live life with more understanding and therefore more compassion. And let’s face it… we could all use a bit more understanding and compassion these days. First let’s look at each term individually, get a good definition of it and see how they stack up to the other. Are they the same or is there a more meaningful, a more powerful idea lurking just beneath the surface waiting to be uncovered?
We’ll start with Knowledge. Most people seem to think it easier to define or explain the term and ideas associated with “Knowledge”. It seems the term “wisdom” and the ideas behind it are a bit more mysterious. So let’s get a definition of “Knowledge” from a well known and widely used source…
Google (more specifically “Oxford Languages” — Googles source).
Knowl·edge
noun
1.facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a
subject. “a thirst for knowledge”
— what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information. “the transmission of knowledge”
PHILOSOPHY
— true, justified belief; certain understanding, as opposed to opinion.
2. awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation.
“the program had been developed without his knowledge”
We see here that knowledge is,in fact, facts. (Hilarious, I know). Knowledge is the acquisition of facts, information and skills gained by either experience or practical and theoretical education. It is also characterized as a justified belief as opposed to an opinion. Meaning you gained knowledge of it and its not just your opinion, it’s a fact. Some people want to talk about Street smarts vs Book smarts or Experience vs Theoretical practice. Well, as we see here Knowledge is all of that and a bag of chips (do people still say that, they should, I just did). Knowledge is what you Know. That may seem like a simple statement but its a profound one if you stop and give it a second to sink in. How do you know what you know? How do you know what you look like or sound like? How do you know 2+2=4? How did you acquire this Knowing or did you acquire it? Was it something you just knew? Something you were born with, this Knowing? While some people like to go down that rabbit trail of just knowing, I prefer not to use that supposition (or uncertain, not factual belief and claim). To say someone came into this world knowing something no one else or not many people know is to say that we all didn’t start on an equal mental playing field and I reject that supposition. Rejecting the “I just know” idea, we arrive back at the question… How do you Know? The answer to this question is a simple “I learned it from books, tv and movies, other people, in other words…the world taught me”. Knowing the definition for knowledge we’re ready for the deep and mysterious “Wisdom”….
Using our ole trusty Google (a.k.a. Oxford Languages) we’ll get a definition on which we can use to start better understanding the term “Wisdom”…
Wis·dom
noun
1. the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise.2. the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.
“some questioned the wisdom of building the dam so close to an active volcano”3. the body of knowledge and principles that develops within a specified society or period.
plural noun: wisdoms
“the traditional farming wisdom of India”
So we see here that Wisdom is a quality. It is “the soundness of an action” or using the knowledge you have. Putting that knowledge to good use. I think a great way to describe it would be… learning how to discern what you’ve learned and when/where to use and apply your knowledge. Wisdom is the application of knowledge. It is how you compile all the bits of information and apply it to any and all given situations. But what happens when the knowledge that you’ve acquired is wrong and you keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Albert Einstein called this the definition of insanity. So it’s insane to apply the knowledge you have without getting a different result, even if that result is worse. This is where the idea of “good judgement” comes in. I think we tend to view someone or something as “wise” when that application of knowledge turns out to be beneficial and not make things worse. Having “good judgement” is another way of saying…things worked out well. Ahh, but if we can not truly know all the consequences of our actions then whose to claim “good judgement”? Whose to say giving the homeless person on the street 5 bucks didn’t lead to a violent drunken night for someone else? or who knows if the fender-bender wasn’t a blessing in disguise? You truly don’t know if you hadn’t had a fender-bender that day and had to stop to deal with it that you wouldn’t be in a MAJOR accident resulting in serious injury. Who knows these things?
***Spoiler alert**** for the conclusion of this article… I’m not going to shove it all off onto God… So let’s get deep…
An easy way of remembering the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom is inside vs outside. Knowledge is mostly acquired through means of the outside world. Reading books, watching T.V. and Movies, talking with other people. Knowledge is also acquired by doing things like, swinging a hammer and learning carpentry by means of physical action. It’s also learning the hard way, i.e. getting into trouble or putting your hand on a hot burner to realize that it’s something you would rather not do. Knowledge comes from OUT THERE. Where as Wisdom resides IN HERE. Wisdom is something that comes from within. Its how you apply the things that you’ve learned and how that application changes things for you. How wisdom differs from knowledge is perspective and perception. I’ll write another post about the differences between these two terms soon. To give you a little preview and to better understand Wisdom, think of it like this…
Perspective is how you view the world. I’m sure many of us have heard the saying “attitude of gratitude”. The general idea behind attitude of gratitude is that if you have the perspective of gratitude and your always thankful for everything that comes your way its hard to get down when things don’t seem to work out. How can the situation not work out if your just thankful to be there…
“No please. I’m so surprised to even win this award. It is more than I could ever dream. Really, I’m just thankful to be here”.
While the attitude of gratitude is a useful tool in order to curb expectations, it is also a great showcase for what perspective is all about. Perspective being how you view the world. What shapes your perspective is the real question. Your perspective and perceptions determine how you interpret the data you’ve collected and how you choose to use that data. It is Perception and Perspective that ultimately decide if a chosen action is wise or foolish… And with that I must end here or this will be an hour long read. I’ll have to continue this at a later date. For now…
Let’s sum things up….
- Knowledge is learning things from an outside source. Using your five senses to acquire data or information.
- Wisdom is interpreting that data using a certain perspective and applying knowledge in such a way as to try to affect a positive change.
Knowledge comes from OUTSIDE of you and flows in.
Wisdom is something INSIDE of you that flows out.
The take-away here is that your perspective and perception of things (yourself, the world, other people) is very important. It can mean the difference between being wise and being foolish. It can make for a happy life full of laughter and joy. It can also mean a life of suffering, pain, mistakes and wrong paths. The choice is yours. Take it or leave it. As always, Thank you for taking the time to read this and May God Bless You.
