Science Is Organized Knowledge. Wisdom Is Organized Life.

"We Don’t Receive Wisdom; We Must Discover It For Ourselves After A Journey That No One Can Take For Us Or Spare Us."

Marcel Proust (1871-1922)

A philosopher, in the original sense of the word is a lover of wisdom. It is an alarming reflection that in the west, wisdom is no longer a concept or category in common use. People are admired for being skillful, or rich, or famous (or in the case of athletes all three). No one is admired for being wise, or even described as being wise. The reason for that I suspect is that wisdom was to be found, it was among the old that it would be found. These days it is unfashionable to be old, and if the old are capable of being wise, who cares?
I am reading 2 incredible books by some of the wisest men who I believe ever lived on Earth, The Analects of Confucius and Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu. In their books, wisdom gets mixed emotions.

In the Tao for example:
Banish wisdom, discard knowledge, and the people will be benefited a hundredfold.
(T19)

And The Analects:
The good man rests content with Goodness; he that is merely wise pursues Goodness in the belief that it pays to do so.
(A4.2)

They can be a little more enthusiastic than this don’t you think:
True wisdom is different from much learning; much learning means little wisdom.
(T81)

What is true wisdom, and did Confucius and Lao Tzu themselves posses it? I would argue that they did. If we call people wise, we generally mean two things.
That they know which things in life are important.
That they know (or have a good idea) how best to go about achieving those great things.
The questions Confucius and Lao Tzu constantly come back to are very simple. How can people be good? How can they be happy or in another book I am reading by Ben Stein How to Ruin Your Life suggests how to avoid making themselves unhappy? And for rulers, how can they best maintain order and keep their people contented?
If we ever get tired pursuing youth, celebrity, and beauty, we could do worse than listen to the answers in both of these books. That is all I am simply suggesting.

Charity Sees The Need, Not The Cause

One of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity.
Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919)

Too many have dispensed with generosity in order to practice charity.
Albert Camus (1913-1960)

I am re-reading an incredible book right now called The Prayer of Jabez. It is a powerful book that I read over a year ago. The book speaks of asking for abundance in this abundant world. Not to be selfish but to be charitable. How much can you give if you have nothing to really give? In the book it says, and I quote,
“Take our feelings. Do we really understand how far the American Dream is from God’s dream for us? We are steeped in a culture that worships freedom, independence, personal rights, and the pursuit of pleasure. We respect people who sacrifice to get what they want. But to be a living sacrifice? To be crucified to self?” Well thank God we no longer need to sacrifice goats anymore because of the sacrifice on the cross that was made. ( I don't think I need to go into this any further right? Cool...) Jesus took care of that for us but we need to sacrifice ourselves and our lives to those who are less fortunate. Now, again, you can sacrifice everything you have and live like Mother Theresa, which probably is not your desired life, but you have to ask for an abundance in your life and ask for God's will so you can give that much more to others. Be a blessing. This is an abundant world, but let us also take our hearts into mind when it comes to charity. It is awesome to be generous but that is not charity. Jack London said “A bone to the dog is not charity. Charity is the bone shared with the dog, when you are just as hungry with the dog.” It has to be from the heart and be a sacrifice so it comes with its full value. We can still have an abundance of things and make a huge difference. If you don’t believe those commercials that say feed a child for just a dollar a day, well you better believe you can feed a child for a year for only $365 bucks in Africa. If you don’t believe it, take a look at these photos and hopefully you will find it in your heart to see the rest of the world that is not as fortunate as our wonderful, abundant country.

Enjoy.