Theoretical Awareness : Paradigm Analysis
Introduction
Knowledge means the theoretical awareness of a thing, concept, place, event, phenomenon, or living being. Wisdom, on the other hand, means the ability to apply that knowledge (and the lessons emerging out of it) for constructive use in real-life situations. For example, you may know that shop A sells apples at Rs 100/kg, while shop B sells them at Rs 80/kg. That’s knowledge. When you choose shop B over A and save Rs 20 for yourself, that’s wisdom in action. Another example is that if someone knows that he/she has a chronic habit of bluffing in front of others, that’s just knowledge. When that individual chooses to be honest going forward and effectively, leaves his/her habit of bluffing, he/she is being wise.
Which is greater between the two?
Clearly, wisdom is a step ahead of knowledge, and often, wise people bank on their vast life experience to make wise choices in their daily lives. Also, when you’ve knowledge; however, you end up being egoistic because of your knowledge and try to show it off in front of others, you’re moving in a direction opposite to that of wisdom. True wisdom is often accompanied with virtues and qualities such as humility, empathy, compassion, kindness, patience, tolerance, and perseverance, which is not always true in case of knowledge. Indeed, wisdom is a super-set of knowledge, or, in other words, knowledge is a sub-set of wisdom. Therefore, we can conclude that all wise people have knowledge; however, not all people who’ve knowledge are wise.
Wisdom is complete knowledge
I’m neither trying to put down knowledge, not I’m trying to exalt wisdom over here. I’m just calling spade a spade, meaning that I’m only looking at things the way they exist and manifest. I’m not being judgmental and I’m not taking sides; I’m only sharing my observations and experience with you in a logical, transparent, truthful, and scientific manner. For sure, people who’re wise have clarity of their life goals, and are more grounded and self-aware than their counterparts who only have knowledge. So, those who’ve attained a good level of knowledge, can choose to convert that knowledge into wisdom by putting it to constructive use in daily life situations.
What the past tells us
Before I conclude the contest, I’d like to add a couple more points to this discussion. Firstly, most of us attend school and gain knowledge when we’re kids. And as we grow up and take more chances in society and life, we realize that our knowledge indeed exists and can be put to heavy use in daily life passing ahead every moment. Indeed, good knowledge and learning forms a strong foundation for people to become wise over age. Secondly, the emphasis on the practical aspects of learning and knowledge has only increased over time in our society, meaning that there is a near-consensus that knowledge is incomplete unless put to constructive use, or, in other words, converted into wisdom.
Conclusion
All in all, knowledge is incomplete without the attainment of wisdom, while wisdom itself denotes that you’ve moved to the next level of life by putting your knowledge to good and real use. Indeed, we ought to have discussed ‘From knowledge to wisdom’ instead of ‘Knowledge Vs Wisdom’. Yes, this is the right and the sheer scientific way for anyone to look at his/her journey of converting knowledge to wisdom in life. Indeed, the acquisition of knowledge is a never-ending process, for knowledge is infinite. Likewise, attainment of wisdom and its application in life is also a never-ending process, for the avenues to put your wisdom to good use are also infinite. I hope such a conclusion has left us motivated enough to strive for new knowledge, as well as putting our wisdom to good use every single day.
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