Wisdom

Wisdom

We all understand the value of wisdom. It pays to be smart. We also realize that while an education and knowledge may be pre-requisites for wisdom, being educated isn’t the same as being smart, and memorizing facts don’t make us wise.

Some people doubt the value of wisdom, of thinking deeply, of analyzing. Sometimes we all shoot from the lip - make judgments before we have fully and critically examined the issue or statement or idea before us.

But there’s another question about wisdom or intellect or understanding or knowledge - or the combination thereof - that almost never gets asked. What’s its purpose? Not what’s it good for, but why do we have it? G‑d instilled in us the power of discernment, evaluation, and thought for a reason. And while some of us may be smarter than others, the reason we have a mind remains the same for each of us. As much as we have, as much as G‑d has given us, we must use all of it to fulfill the purpose for which it was given.

We are given the power of wisdom and understanding in order to distinguish between good and evil. But even more, we are instilled with intellectual faculties in order to clarify the difference and to correct what we can. In other words, first we separate the good and proper from the evil and mistaken, and then we repair the negative. 

The second requires us to delve into the world. Those in business, for example, uses their heads to make a living. Involvement in the give-and-take of earning a living is similar to the sifting process of the intellect: we have to discern a good deal, and we have to examine our character. A “good deal” is only good if it results in more than a material gain; it must result in a moral transformation, of ourselves and our environment. This smelting of our emotions can only be done if we analyze our actions, our impact on those around us, and think deeply about who we really are.