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Don’t Forget the Owls

Researchers seeking the true meaning of wisdom look to the Greeks, ant colonies and ... Sylvia Miles?

By Jerry Adler | NEWSWEEK
Published Jan 10, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Jan 19, 2009

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  • Posted By: redi @ 03/05/2009 1:03:58 PM

    Here's some wisdom for you: "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged [always] understand judgment." Job 32:9. Bloom may have understood the, reputed to this day to be, wisest being in the world (for reasons that are definitely not demonstrated in The Good Book!) when Soloman said: "For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow." Eccl. 1:18. Might it be that Bloom, like so many of them, kept his Almighty Dollars but couldn't digest all that rich food or get a good nights sleep?

  • Posted By: redi @ 03/05/2009 1:02:02 PM

    Sent a comment but can't seem to register.

  • Posted By: MichaelX @ 01/23/2009 10:39:46 AM

    So, "wisdom" is equated with wealth? Having "wisdom" means you are a cut-throat, don't play by the rules, hose them all for the sake of my advancement, arrogant rich bastard?
    I don't want to be smart anymore. I want "wisdom" so I can become advantagous with impunity.
    Who is anyone to attempt to define wisdom when they do not posses it? Only those with true wisdom know it!
    You'll know what it means when you get it.

  • Posted By: lawyerinperu @ 01/20/2009 9:16:47 PM

    Dear sir.
    You have touched on a topic interesting, important, profound and extremely beautiful. The Greeks called it "Sophia", the personification of wisdom (in Greek "??????????).
    I am of the opinion that wisdom involves many qualities such as living at peace with itself and with others, do good, be fair and straight, look for life in all its aspects, to love God, there is a condition that summarizes all the other: Being able to be happy today and now. Learning to be happy now is extremely difficult to achieve today, without expecting anything more of the future or be in lament of the past. Be happy now, that is the essence of wisdom.
    Alonso Sarmiento Llamas (Peru)
    http://alonsosarmiento.googlepages.com

  • Posted By: Birdiebuzz @ 01/18/2009 1:47:56 AM

    To seek wisdom in an inkpot or through the machinations of the mind is like seeking water in a desert, it just isn't there. Wisdom is in the 'knowing'. Knowing not as a quality of the mind, but of being. Beyond definition. I'm glad academia and grant giving bodies continue to inhabit a universe eternally irrelevant, perpetuating and constantly reinventing their own self celebratory mind games. Enjoy.

  • Posted By: mvespa @ 01/16/2009 11:35:13 AM

    Is there a web site associated with the subject of wisdom for the Univerisity of Chicago?

    • Posted By: Yossarian @ 01/17/2009 12:15:56 PM

      The grant program's website is: http://wisdomresearch.org/

  • Posted By: Jayente @ 01/14/2009 12:45:09 PM

    It can be hard to understand wisdom if one hasn't experienced any, but an excellent place to look is in the mindfulness meditation and non-duality communities, the Western Buddhist writers, Krishnamurti. There you will find wisdom in abundance. J. Taylor

  • Posted By: Brien Comerford @ 01/11/2009 4:59:28 PM

    Ants are generally more selfless, productive, amenable and altruistic than the vast majority of humans.

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