Empowerment Through Thought

Sometimes philosophy is defined as the love of wisdom. But what does that really mean?

Dictionary.com defines wisdom as “knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.”

Ok, but that isn’t very helpful in answering the question.

What does it actually look like to be wise?

I think we often imagine the a wise person as some sage like figure. Yoda immediately comes to my mind.

I think one of the reasons it can be hard to imagine more ordinary examples of wise folks is because wisdom doesn’t look a specific way. We have our images of it, like Yoda, but when it comes to the everyday version, it is a lot less easy to spot.

I think everyday wisdom looks like setting boundaries with people and things that are not serving you. I think it looks like choosing to follow what makes you happy over the things that others unjustly expect of you. I think it looks like being humble when you make a mistake and fighting for justice when someone you love has been hurt.

Everyday wisdom is the kind of thing that we easily miss. Everyday wisdom is often just dismissed as “adulting” or just acting our age. But there is deep wisdom in these often mundane scenarios and that wisdom is incredibly valuable.

When you study philosophy, you make a commitment to all kinds of wisdom. Yes, there are times we are working with the Yoda style vibes, but, I would argue, a lot of the most valuable wisdom comes from more mundane explorations.

We might divide up the world into practical wisdom and theoretically wisdom. Practical wisdom is the kind exercised when we choose to do the dishes over bingeing another season of Bridgerton on Netflix. Theoretical wisdom is knowing what the right answer is to big questions like “What is friendship?” Both are important and valuable.

Often I call myself a practical philosopher. While I would say the majority of my training centered theoretical wisdom, the majority of my heart has always been dedicated to practical wisdom. I love the way exploring theoretical wisdom can have deep transformative effects on the practical ways we navigate our lives.

Its not always obvious how theoretical wisdom translates to the practical world. This is true, in part, because there is a lot of theoretical wisdom and not all of it will speak to every practical situation. For this to work effectively you need to curate the theoretical insights so that they are relevant to the practical circumstances you find yourself in.

This is why philosophical counseling is such an exciting field. Here a philosopher works hand in hand with someone facing real practical challenges in their life. This philosopher has been studying theoretical wisdom for years if not decades. They can then translate this theoretical wisdom into practical wisdom for their client.

Now that is not to say that a philosopher is going to tell you exactly what you *should* do in any given situation. That is not the nature of any kind of wisdom. Instead, theoretical wisdom can be delievered in a way that transforms the way the clients thinks about their practical circumstances. It is the client that moves through this transformation and develops their own form of practical wisdom.

So what would it look like if we were wise?

As a philosopher, my vision of us all being wise involves a beautiful exchange between exploring the theoretical wisdom of some of the world’s greatest thinkers, and playfully experiencing how those insights may impact our decision making. If we were wise, we would all regularly be consuming a little bit of theoreitcal wisdom so that we gave ourselves the opportunity to allow it to transform our day to day lives.