Can people intentionaly increase their wisdom, and if so, what method(s) would you suggest?

Sigh.

I never go in here exactly because of posts like yours.

...and the rest is history!

This has been another episode of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

advertisements, etc. Are most Americans wise in your opinion?

but also keep your brain and ears open so you actually listen to what other people have to say and consider that they might know something you don't.

The most surefire way to an ignorant mindset is to firmly believe that you have all the answers and everyone else is an idiot, and to shout your own POV so relentlessly that you drown out everybody else.

Knowledge doesn't necessarily equate to wisdom.

I think the definitions' suggest the best methodology - combining knowledge with thoughtfulness. Insight is not a learned trait (imo), but one can learn discernment, discretion, and prudence in action and thought.

get to know people and what makes them tick. Find a way to be of service to others and make self-less service integral to your life. Life a life of heart-felt service to find meaining in your life. Work on getting your ego out of the way and to release judgement and bias. Partake of life in a full heart-centered, joyous way. Approach experiences and other people as though they have something to give you and to teach you. Become a student of your own life. Attend to your inner life and learn from it.

And finally, recognize the wisdom grows with experience and age. If you truly desire wisdom, develop disciplines that will foster it.

Really. As much as one can, as often as one is able. I've read plenty that I've disagreed with, and much I've found distasteful, but I've never read anything that didn't give me knowledge of something - even if it was something I would have preferred not knowing!

I suppose my condition would be to read thoughtfully, rather than just accepting (or rejecting) something because of the subject addressed.

Wisdom doesn't come from books. Knowledge comes from books, and from experience (since we can't experience everything, books provide a bridge to things we have not/can not/ will not be able to experience).

Knowledge opens your mind and that's where wisdom resides. An open mind allows new ideas to percolate; it accepts that the world isn't black/white; that few things are simply right/wrong. It comprehends the concept of 'just' not simply 'justice' and perhaps most importantly, it understands that 'perfect' and 'objective' are much more ideals than reachable goals.

I'm not that wise; I don't pretend to be - but I hope to achieve some measure of wisdom before I go to dust . . . it's nice to have a goal . . .

imitate their habits.

Many people seem to have a different idea about who is wise and who is foolish. A foolish person may pick another fool to imitate.

Another problem could be what is wise for one may be foolish for another.

I would choose someone who, in my opinion, leads a good life. Someone who has qualities that I respect and admire, like generosity, and someone who isn't quarrelsome or petty. You might have other qualities that you admire more, and that's just fine. I think wisdom can be attained by taking many different paths.

over the years. I have more knowledge and experience, but I am pretty much the same person I was as a kid.

mark

What I've learned is not to give a flying you-know-what about others' opinions of me. I do care very deeply if I hurt people, but if people don't like me for some reason or other, I move on. Life's too short.

That gives you incredible freedom, and I think that freedom gives you a sort of wisdom. Certainly, there's a difference between knowledge (which is also great) and wisdom.

today. :P

Seek integrity.

***
Positive psychology

Researchers in positive psychology have defined wisdom as the coordination of "knowledge and experience" and "its deliberate use to improve well being."<7> With this definition, wisdom can supposedly be measured using the following criteria.<4>
A wise person can discern the core of important problems.
A wise person has self-knowledge.
A wise person seems sincere and direct with others.
Others ask wise people for advice.
A wise person's actions are consistent with his/her ethical beliefs.

Measurement instruments that use these criteria have acceptable to good internal consistency and low test-retest reliability (r in the range of 0.35 to 0.67).<4>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom

Listen more than you talk.
Try a little more than you think you can do.
Put what you know into practice.
Always measure what you know against what you thought you would find out.
Don't repeat mistakes.

That's all I can think of offhand.

some people know stuff, and as they live their lives, they learn.

Others are born insufferable assholes and just become more of the same as they live their lives.

But, setting out to "learn" wisdom - ha!

And when you frame the query in terms of "increase ... wisdom," you're making a very dangerous and false assumption that everyone has wisdom.

That, if you've been paying attention, is not so...............

but even people who are born insufferable assholes (how can you tell since babies are so cute) can learn to not be such assholes if they just try a little and get help from others.

a willingness to learn from that experience, perhaps. An ability to be open to that learning - even when it shows you to have been foolish.

A wise response to a situation can only follow from knowing that situation for exactly what it is. That situation cannot be viewed through the filter of preconceptions and expectations. Wisdom cannot proceed from delusion, or from habit, or from prejudice. Wisdom can only proceed from detached objectivity.

You must see things exactly as they are, unadulterated by habitual reactions and projections. By bringing this perceptual process into the full light of awareness, one becomes conscious of automatic and habitual responses to perceptual data. As soon as one becomes in any way involved in a reaction, the detached observational vantage point is immediately lost.

The difference between immediately, and almost unconsciously "becoming angry" (i.e. investing ego in the anger) and calmly observing the impulse to anger, then choosing a better response, is wisdom. It is the difference between saying "I have some anger" and saying "The anger has me." When the anger has you, there is not a chance you will act with wisdom. When you have the anger, without becoming the anger, without being swallowed up by the anger, then you can calmly and objectively consider the wisest response to the situation.

These two things: Seeing reality for what it is, without bias or prejudice, and "having an emotion" with equanimity and objectivity, while not allowing the emotion to have you; these are the two things that Insight Meditation trains you to do. Without them, wise action is not possible. With them, you will be surprised to discover how wise you already are.

Just don't confuse "pleasure" with "happiness". They are NOT the same thing. Pleasure is a fleeting, temporary sensation. Happiness is a state of being. Too many people chase after pleasure instead of pursuing happiness. They get what they go after, but they don't get happiness.

:hi:

www.moretolife.org

There is a process, very simple and yet very impactful, for getting to what you are believing, verifying whether it is true or not, and then taking a stand on the truth.

It changes everything about how we react (get into reactivity) when we can learn to notice the things that we are believing...much of which is just simply Not True.

Before Socrates became a philosopher, he believed he was a fool. All his friends told him he was a fool, the men he did business with called him a fool, and his wife told him what a fool he was every day, so he took it for granted that since they all agreed, they must be right.

But he thought to himself, maybe even a fool can learn a little wisdom if he listens to what wise men have to say. So he sought out the reputed wisest men in Athens to teach him. They were generally happy to oblige such a humble student, but as he listened to them expound their philosophies he realized they were all fools as well, only they thought they were wise.

And so he finally realized that he was the wisest man in Athens, since all men were fools but most believed themselves wise, while he at least knew that he was a fool.

Realizing that you are a fool is therefore the first step toward attaining true wisdom. :evilgrin:

...to an ability score. Just chose wisdom all of the time. :)