The Characteristics Of Wisdom In The Wisdom Books

Having knowledge and wisdom comes with a price and is not easy to handle when everyone is afraid of you for having so much knowledge. In the book, Bless Me Ultima, by Rudolfo Anaya, Ultima, a curandera, is seen as an evil, old witch who uses her magic against others. In actuality, she heals Lucas even when she is accused, got rid of the 3 Indian ghosts harassing a family, and tells Antonio she accepts her death because she accepted to dedicate her life in the service of others when her owl died. While some may say Ultima is just a “bruja” and a mad witch who uses black magic, I believe she is actually a wise and kind character and knows many things that others do not. She is ready to help anyone even though she is accused.

Why do we even need wisdom? Wisdom is essential because how is the human race going to learn how to survive efficiently and fully without wisdom? How are people going to learn once you do something and get in trouble you don’t do it again, thus, making you wiser.

Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement; the quality of being wise. In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is one character who shows a tremendous amount of wisdom. Atticus shows his wisdom throughout the story by teaching Scout how to be young wise girl and teaching her how to read and write. Shows Jem how to be wise and knowledgeable , and shows it in the defending of Tom Robinson.

Wisdom is one of the traits of hero, but what is wisdom. Wisdom is the ability to make the right judgment, the right decision, because the situation is fully understood. A wise person has a complete understanding of the situation and makes the soundest decision for the best result. The connotation for a wise person is a person that

1) Wisdom is thought to be the collective and individual experience of applying knowledge to the solution of problems.

What does it mean to have wisdom? Some may say to be wise is to have enough knowledge and good judgment to make well thought out life decisions. Wisdom is a common term mentioned throughout out the New Testament Epistles and the entire Bible. The Bible has a lot to say about wisdom and knowledge. It talks about ways to be wise and ways to be foolish. Through out the Bible there seems to be different types of wisdom and it is described in different ways. Analyzing all types of wisdom and knowledge will help us decide what the Bible means to be wise.

This quote from Elaine Heath and Larry Duggins' book "Missional.Monastic.Mainline." mentioned what I thought of as the quintessential definition of wisdom. Through effort and sacrifice, one can attain pearls of wisdom such as freedom can't be bought cheap, it's better to die with knowledge than to live in ignorance, and ignorance is bliss only for those whose minds are vacant of the veracity of facts.

According to the brilliant Albert Einstein, “wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” In Siddhartha, Hermann Hesse utilizes the reoccurring theme that knowledge and wisdom are different to show the readers how to actually learn and become more complete in life. This theme is proven at multiple points throughout the novel such as when Siddhartha is young and leaves home, when he meets Gotama and his followers, and when he advises Govinda at the end of his journey.

She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.” Proverbs (9:13-18) “The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.” Solomon depicts wisdom as a woman who has diligent, understanding, one who is prepared and ready to share with all who are lacking in judgment.(1-12) Where the woman of folly is loud, lazy, lacks understanding, likes to live in darkness and

Wisdom is something that all people have to a certain point, but some people just do not use it. Benjamin had wisdom because he has experienced everything, but just never used it. Napoleon uses his wisdom to know how to use propaganda to be able to control the other animals. Old Major was using his wisdom to start a rebellion. Animal Farm, a novel written by George Orwell, uses Benjamin, Napoleon, and Old Major as symbols to show how wisdom manifests in many different ways.

In the New Testament, words like wisdom and wisely are translated from the Greek word “phronimos” (blueletterbible.org). It is translated to mean prudent, sensible, and wise (Vine, 2006). In Luke 1:17, phronimos is used when the angel says “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord,” (NKJ). Throughout the New Testament, it appears that wisdom is mostly referred to as something gained through life experiences or experiences from God. It seems to also be implied that wisdom is the best in old age.

The books of Wisdom : Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs are hugely different from the preceding books of history. They focus on raising questions about God, creation itself, humanity and the essence of evil and suffering.

What does it mean to be wise? Webster's Dictionary defines the word "wise" as being "marked by deep understanding, keen discerment". Through the telling of the ancient Mariner's tale, the Wedding-Guest became sadder and wiser. He became sad in that he identified himself with the shallow and self-absorbed mariner. However, the mariner changed his ways. The Wedding-Guest became wise through realizing that he himself needed to alter his ways.

Wisdom Tradition is a term applied to the Old Testament books of Proverbs, Job, Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. Wisdom Tradition books all share characteristics and points of view that are somewhat different than other biblical books. Wisdom tradition has very prominent characteristics from other books in the Old Testament such as a search for the goal of life, how to master it and questioning the problems of life, showing interest to human experiences that affect all people, joy of creativity and creation, and very little interest in the great acts of divine salvation. These qualities appear in a few books in the Old Testament. All of them show wisdom, but only some show both wisdom and tradition. Books such as Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes values the beauty of creation and the confidence of human life and nature. This was a new concept to Israel. They learned about wisdom tradition through other nations. They were influenced from Mesopotamian literature and took their ideas of meditations of sufferings and God’s justice into their Old Testament Books. Suffering can be seen in Job, but in the next essay and upcoming classes, we will be relating this to women suffering. The wisdom perspectives did not replace the other two major strands of thought in Ancient Israel, that of prophets and priests. It was simply a different focus that was complementary with the other perspectives presented in the Bible.

Aristotle sustains that wisdom consists in knowing the cause which made a material thing to be what it is. For Aristotle, wise people know more than just what something is; they also know why it is what it is, or what causes it to be what it is. People with wisdom, for instance, a master worker understand not only that fire is hot, but also know why it is hot. Those with experience only, who do not know why something works in a certain manner, cannot teach. Say physicians understand that there is a relationship between the medical condition of this class of patients and the ingredients in this particular drug. They are then motivated to learn why the drug works on these