Reading Pamela Druckerman’s There Are No Grown-ups is such a refreshing experience. Her witty, clever rendition injects a necessary dose of detachment for a struggling midlifer-to-be.
This blogpost captures the essences of the chapter on how to be wise, including Pamela’s own thoughts and her citations of influencial reseaches on the topic, which have the potential to provide a valuable life lesson for anyone needs it.
Wisdom is an elusive subject. Intelligence is “the ability to think logically, to conceptualize and abstract from reality”, wheareas wisdom includes “the ability to grasp human nature, which is paradoxiacal, contradictory, and subject to continue change”, published by Vivian Clayton in 1982.
There is never a consensus definition of wisdom, but some common or at least overlapping descriptions.
- Wise people can see the big picture. And yet they know that their own knowledge, judgement and persective are limited. They know that life is ambiguous and complicated.
- They know that in any situation, multiple outcomes are possible. Wise people know themselves, but they are not self-centered.
- They are good at reading people and genuinely cares about others and act out of empathy, generosity and compassion.
- Wise people are pragmatic, adaptable, experienced and resilient.
- When they make a judgment about what to do, or not to do, they often make the right call.
Although these citations help me to understand a bit more about the vague and abroad definitions of wisdom, I still could not help thinking, are wise people always good people? Could there be a wise evil or is there any interrelationship between wisdom and morality?
Like the ending of any good lectures, I will leave the answers to the listeners.
Martian Notes 
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