Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-25235588-20190125131602/@comment-24729606-20190204143252

I agree that knowledge and wisdom have similarities but I would explain the difference in the following way. knowledge is information one has assimilated into ones preexisting body of sensory and mnemonic (memory in lay persons terms) data. wisdom is the result of comparison of ones body of perceived reality (internal reality if you will) with the reality of the external world. however while wisdom is this it is also knowledge gathered over the course of a lifetime (or gathered over the course of ones life up to the present moment). As for the various levels of both those are somewhat trickier to pin down. The lowest level of knowledge for example would be information from ones past experience intermingled with information and data one has recently encountered and thus information still be categorized within ones mental space. the next level would one drawing inferences from that newfound knowledge and the testing of said inferences against the control group of the outside world. after that would be the gradual transmutation of knowledge into wisdom. but this transition can only take place if one bears in mind the inevitable possibility of error, misinterpretation, or the ever present possibility of having missed something that make the remainder of the information closer to completeness. if one does not bear in mind continuously than one will risk having ones biases and opinions about reality distort the external world and that can and does lead to delusionality but can also lead to charisma if one can convince a devoted following to accept and agree with ones perception and understanding of the world at large (something which if it perpetuates itself over successive generations can lead to the birth of a new spirituality and then a new religion). The lowest level of wisdom (with all due respect to those who pass on information in the manner i'm about to describe) would be the various oral traditions of the world. these stories, myths, folktales, and so on pass on the knowledge of previous generations and by inducing an almost mystical experience in the audience by doing so convince the audience of that knowledge continued relevance. now I do not mean that oral traditions and the lessons they impart have no value to the contrary these traditions are more often than not vital linchpins in the cultural traditions verbally preserved. on a similar level (albeit one buffered, to a certain extent, from the dilution of memory) is literature. literature has value of course but one must always bear in mind the author has their own interpretation which should nor be taken for granted in the works they present. in fact I would argue that if one wants to attain real wisdom about something from literature one should read sources as close to contemporary of the topic in question as possible. for example if one wants to learn about Gaius Julius Caesar one should restrict ones research to those who lived within Caesars lifetime. the more time has passed the less reliable the source generally is because time (the passing of generations specifically) means each new generation is influenced by different circumstances those the truly contemporary accounts. The second level of wisdom I would say is wisdom gleamed from the natural world itself. observing the cycles of nature over time will not only lead one to appreciate nature but it also give rise to questions one would not think to ask (or even conceive of) others. nature is endlessly fascinating and the deeper you look the more you realize how little you really know. so too the deeper the look into nature the more you will begin to truths that nature alone can teach. above all else nature is an elegant balance of something with and against something else. advantage is balanced by disadvantage and visa versa. the highest level of wisdom I would say is perhaps best summed up by Socrates (or at least by the Socrates Plato was using as his literary mouthpiece) in saying that he knew what he did not know and he knew what he knew in equal amounts. admitting to oneself that one has much left learn is something we all should have.