Why wisdom is depleting; and how to be wise
An insight into synthesis of wisdom and why the current generation seems to be in a wisdom deficit.
The habits needed to be wiser.
We currently live in the information age with virtually infinite data available for anything that our minds can imagine. Further, thanks to galloping advancements in technology in the last 2 decades, we have required resources which enables seamless access to these vast volumes of available information. The amount of computing prowess that an average persons mobile phone has, was unimaginable just a couple of decades ago for an entire organisation to have.
Given such a democratisation (availability and access) of information, it is only reasonable to expect that an average person would be more wise or knowledgeable at the least in comparison to their former generation, who were devoid of such availability or access to information. However, surprisingly we find that, the current generation is relatively less knowledgeable on average. A clear evidence to support this is the ‘repeated’ support that an average person seeks from their gadgets to access and verify seemingly uncomplicated and straight-forward bits of information on a daily basis. So, how does one account for this dichotomy - surplus information and lesser knowledge.
For this, we must explore how information translates into knowledge.
For any information to be preserved in our brain, it needs to be paid attention to and memorized. Once enough discrete pieces of information get stored at a common database - our brain, our minds begin to process them by overlaying and crystallizes it into knowledge.
To understand this, let’s take an example of temperature i.e. the degree of warmth of a body which can be measured in Celcius. Overlaying this information with the temperature of our bodies, we can define whether a person is healthy or has fever. Thus, the presence of a seminal information - 'temperature and it’s measurement' is a prerequisite to garner further knowledge - 'gauging the health by using body temperature’.
Further this knowledge, when given enough time, synthesizes into wisdom. The time here means the duration which is spent for reflection over that acquired knowledge. So, in other words, knowledge with experience brings in wisdom.
We can extend the above example to understand this. So, one can look for the common instances leading to the rise in the body temperature and then conclude what are common causes of fever. Thus we get a wisdom of common causes of rise of body temperature in response to fever.
Given this process, it becomes easy to comprehend the initial dichotomy. The major roadblocks, on the journey to wisdom which the current generation faces, are ‘availability of too much information’ and ‘too easy access to information’.
On being flooded with too much information, the mind is constantly seeking the 'next' piece of information which has invariably reduces the attention span of a technology bearer.
Further 'too easy access to information' makes the memorization seem as a redundant exercise. Thus, this task of memorization is constantly overlooked and the pieces of information fail to crystallize as knowledge.
The reduced attention span also arrests any meaningful reflection on any acquired piece of knowledge which effectively blocks synthesis of any knowledge into wisdom.
So, is there a solution out of this seemingly pervasive and unforgiving problem? Fortunately there is. Firstly, we need to make repeated access of discrete bits of information difficult for us, so that we are forced into memorization. Secondly, we must start to make more time for ourselves to allow for self-reflection.
A simple yet effective way to achieve this is following a strict discipline of keeping ourselves away from mobile phones for fixed durations during the day and endeavor to expand this duration incrementally. This will prevent the information from flooding our brains and provide us time for self-reflection, unblocking our paths to wisdom.
