The word wis-dom has many positive connotations. If you are considered to be wise, you are placed in high esteem. You are looked upon for advice, as a confidant and as one who knows many truths of life. Many cultures extol their elders as being wise; others use the word wisdom when referring to someone who has a vast array of knowledge. Still others refer to wisdom as the sum of scholarly learning through the ages.
However, as powerful and useful as wisdom may be, there is definitely something missing from a society or person who is considered wise. Yes, they have a storehouse of learning and past experiences, but they are still missing something very vital. To understand what is missing, you must discern the difference between knowledge, wisdom and knowing. Then you will understand why knowledge and wisdom fall behind knowing in the pursuit of living.
Wisdom is only one of three states describing a person's being. The first is knowledge, which is often mistaken for wisdom. The general premise is that the more knowledge you accumulate, the wiser you become. But, knowledge does not bring you wisdom. Knowledge is what you have been taught from sources outside you. It is what you learn from your parents, teachers, ministers, friends, etc. In essence, there is nothing real about knowledge. In fact, knowledge, once incorporated into your mental processes, becomes nothing more than your belief systems. You may have a lot of support for these belief systems; yet they are nothing more than beliefs. They have nothing to do with what you have experienced. Knowledge is always second-hand learning. It may or may not be true, and even if it is true, it is only partially true.
You are taught to be Jewish, Christian, Moslem, or some other religion. By the time you enter pre-school, you have already been conditioned to accept your parents' religious teachings as truth. How could they be wrong? There is no doubt in your mind that your religion is the only right religion. You have become so indoctrinated into what you have been taught that you do not even question the validity of what you have been taught. You accept these teachings as your truths, as if they were your own experiences.
The second state of being is wisdom. It goes a step beyond knowledge. You gain wisdom as you experience various aspects of life. You have an experience of what you call God. During the moment of the experience, it is real. Once the experience has passed, it now becomes a part of your mind. You remember this experience and say it is real, that it is truth. Yes, the moment it happened, it was real. But now, it is nothing more than a memory, and memory is the seat of knowledge. It now fits into your belief systems. It has moved from the real to the imaginary. As time advances, your beliefs become more entrenched and rigid.
What you experienced was real. Your definition and interpretation of that experience is from your mind and knowledge base. Once your mind enters into the picture, the whole gestalt changes. Anything that is taken from memory is knowledge. Even if that memory is of a personal experience; once out of the experience, it becomes a part of your knowledge base.
Wisdom is more powerful than knowledge because you have had an experience of what you are knowledgeable about. Still, something is missing. What is missing is the experience in this moment. You have past experiences to support your knowledge, but those experiences are no longer in the present. They have happened and are no more. Yet, you hang on to them and glorify them. You make them your truth of yesterday, today and tomorrow. You become limited by your belief in the absolute truth of your past experience. You deny the current experience in favor of the past.
The third state is that of knowing. In this state, you have not had the experience, you have no knowledge concerning the experience; instead, you are the experience. When you function out of the state of knowing, you no longer are functioning from either your knowledge or experiential base, but from within the experience itself. It is when the dancer becomes the dance. It is when there is nothing but this moment. Even any thoughts of yourself are absent. All that remains is the process and the experiencing of this moment. Notice it is the experiencing that is the key element. Once experienced, it is gone.
A powerful and often frightening aspect of the state of knowing is that it is always changing. The mind has a very difficult time with this. It wants consistency, rules and laws to follow. It wants to be able to predict. Knowing eliminates all of your securities. You will still be able to predict, have rules and laws, but you will know them for what they are, mere security blankets.
The state of knowing eliminates your need for knowledge and moves wisdom into second place, immediately following knowledge. When you live a life of knowing, you enjoy knowledge, you have fun with your wisdom and use both in your daily activities. At the same time, you also recognize that knowledge and wisdom are not the truth or the real. In the state of knowing you use your knowledge and wisdom. Of great importance is that you can and do use them, but you do not accept them as truths. You do not let them color your experiences of this moment. You do not let them control your life.
The man of knowledge believes he knows something. The man of wisdom knows he knows something. The man of knowing knows he knows nothing. Can you see the power and freedom that knowing that you know nothing gives you? Now you are free to be who you are, experience what is in your present moment and then be open for the next moment. Since you know you know nothing, you are not locked into a world of dogma, beliefs, false truths or even past experiences. Each moment is fresh; each moment brings to you an aliveness and an excitement that knowledge and wisdom just do not have. Enjoy knowledge and wisdom, but be a being of knowing.
Isa has relocated to the Blueridge Mountains of NC after retiring from USF. The creator of Inner Awareness Mastery, he has awakened to his own self mastery, which he lovingly shares with others at Celestial Waters I AM Sanctuary at Lake Lure, Florida. (704) 625-2434. I_AM_ISA@blueridge.net.