wisdom versus knowledge

8/8/2019 Wisdom Versus Knowledge

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Wisdom versus Knowledge

If a person has been taught much knowledge does this make himwiser? What if the question were asked reversed. If a person isconsidered to be wise, is this because he has been taught a lot of knowledge? If the former question was to be answered without thelatter being asked it might make more sense. However, if thought out

thoroughly, to be wise may not necessarily mean to have been taughta lot of knowledge. Wisdom doesn’t come straight from knowledge, nordoes knowledge come from wisdom. An iota of information that onefeels has some sort of importance or value, something that can becarried on through life is considered wisdom. But information with nonof this can be considered straight knowledge. In Inge Bell’s essay sheemphasizes the importance of wisdom versus knowledge and whywisdom needs to be stressed more than knowledge. In today’seducation system however, this concept of wisdom being a bettervalue and a more important value doesn’t seem to matter. Theeducation system today mainly consists of the teachers just teaching

and the students just learning. Basically, the all knowing teacher fillsthe facts into the blank minded student, than the student in one formor another regurgitate

This study investigated the connection between wisdom as a body of expert knowledge about the meaning and conduct of life and indicatorsof affective, motivational, and interpersonal functioning. Structuralequation analyses showed that individuals higher on wisdom-related knowledge reported (a) higher affective involvement combined withlower negative and pleas-ant feelings, (b) a value orientation that focused conjointly on other-enhancing values and personal growth

combined with a lesser tendency toward values revolving around a pleasurable life, and (c) a preference for cooperative conflict management strategies combined with a lower tendency to adopt submissive, avoidant, or dominant strategies. These findingscorroborate the theoretical notion that wisdom involves affectivemodulation and complexity rather than the predominant seeking of pleasure and also a joint motivational commitment to developing the potential of oneself and that of others.

A poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson once said, “Knowledge comes, butwisdom lingers." In never heard of him or his saying, but I do not

totally agree with what he said. I believe you have to understand whatthe words actually mean first.

Knowledge means a range of information or understanding. Whilewisdom means the quality of being wise: good judgment. It also meanslearning knowledge, so I wonder what Lord Tennyson meant by hisquote, " Knowledge come, but wisdom lingers." Maybe he meant thatknowledge is something that just comes to you either in teachings or



naturally and wisdom will still be there after your gone. But if wisdomis knowledge learned. Then the correct way to see it as knowledge isthere for you to use it, and if you use it will become wisdom. Butmaybe some knowledge should not be considered wisdom.

BUT, HERE, in my discussion, I have kept aside the concept of God and

eternity. If we go by the dictionary, knowledge is simply informationand the awareness acquired through experience or education or it isthe sum total of what is known. On the other hand, wisdom refers tothe quality of being wise or a body of knowledge and experience. Inthis context, wise implies, ‘having or showing experience, knowledgeand good judgement’ So, as usual, the dictionary fails to clearlydifferentiate between the two, but we all know a word in the context of dictionary and in the context of its practical use always differs a bit. Itis quite normal.

In the religious arena, there is always a tendency to place wisdom

above knowledge. The following quote of Swami Prabhavanandareflects this view: “The sage must distinguish between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is of things, acts and relations. But wisdom is of Brahman (Supreme reality) alone and beyond all things, acts andrelations. He abides forever to become one with him is the onlywisdom.”

In a general sense too, we can say that wisdom is superior toknowledge because knowledge is communicable but wisdom must begained from experience. Moreover, wisdom is a lifelong experience.One must seek knowledge to awaken wisdom. The more we know, the

more we realise how much we do not know. The wiser we grow, themore wisdom we believe is yet to be discovered.

Knowledge acts as a messenger who calls one to wisdom, but this byno means can be regarded as equivalent to wisdom. Wisdom isexperiential; it is a truth one recognizes in the external world thatalready exists in the internal one. Wisdom teaches us what works andwhat does not. Knowledge teaches us to use our senses, to observeand evaluate things or events around us and our predecessors with aproper way of recording. With a perfect blend of knowledge and wisdom in our lives, we can eliminate fear; we can make our lives

better.

But, we, the common people, rarely spend a second to think of allthese things. For us, information is knowledge and knowledge iswisdom, as it was said long ago by TS Eliot,“Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?”

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We tend to forget that information is just a collection of data andknowledge is ranked higher than information and wisdom sits almostone light year above knowledge. Here lies the perfect recipe fordisaster.

With our so-called modern way of thinking and mechanical lifestyle, itseems that we are happy with the way things are. But in the process,

we have stopped loving ourselves; now we fall in love only with ourambitions and desires and of course deadlines. It has been a long timesince human beings last fell in love with their soul and withthemselves.We do not have enough time to recall that we are lost between the twowords, viz, ‘win’ and ‘defeat’. We have forgotten the art of living life tothe fullest, enjoying our feelings and respecting our emotions. We nowthink that our lives are on the fast lane, but in the process, we arelimiting ourselves to the information level only; we do not want to gobeyond it. Such readymade thinking is right food for a society which just eats, lives and dies. But for the real, moral and spiritual uplift of

human being, the most evolved creature on this planet, we mustrealise the difference between information, knowledge and wisdom and then act accordingly.

We are not born just to earn, eat, enjoy and die. Our lives should havesome meaning. For that a certain level of wisdom and a perfect blendof knowledge and wisdom are mandatory. But here is the bottom line:Wisdom does not come in sealed packets; it has to be earned throughfree, fair and higher standard of thinking. Winning always does notmatter but what we have done to win matters most, ie, gaining wisdomalways does not matter, but the process matters most.

Following is the text of the President's address to the nation on the eve of the 55thRepublic Day:

Dear Citizens, on this important day on the eve of 55th Republic Day of India, I amindeed happy to greet all the billion citizens of our country, including those living abroad.

I also greet the members of the armed forces and paramilitary forces who guard our frontiers on the land, the sea and the air and also internal security forces. I would like toshare some of my thoughts for evolution of a beautiful India, combining economic prosperity and a value system drawn from our civilizational heritage.

Indian economic scenario:The Indian economy shows a very robust and consistent growth, indicated by the recent







8.4 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter of 2003-2004. Our foreign exchangereserves have crossed the $100billion mark and are continuously rising.

The rupee is steady, the middle class resurgent and domestic buying power is on the rise.This has made our economy one of the fastest growing in the world. The time has comefor these economic benefits to reach speedily the rural population through development programmes such as Providing Urban amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) and interlinking

of rivers.

Economists all around the world predict that by the year 2020, the world economic scenario will be completelydifferent from what it is today, and that India will occupythe pride of position.

Indian industries in certain sectors have matured to bevery responsive to national and international needs andhave shown steady growth in spite of earlier adverse predictions.

Interest rates from the banks need to be more proactive tostimulate the growth of the right type of small, mediumscale industry and agro food-processing industries. The

combination of entrepreneurship education in schools and colleges, hassle-free flow of venture capital and evolution of a good market will give additional momentum for national growth transforming India into a competitive and beautiful nation.

Dear citizens, for the next five years, with certain progress behind us, the challenge wehave, is to launch a major thrust for attaining national prosperity. We should convert the present opportunity and work towards giving our future generations, a competitive nation

which has the following characteristics.

Profile of a Competitive India:A Nation that is prosperous, healthy, secure, peaceful and happy.A Nation where the rural and urban divide has reduced to a thin line.A Nation where there is an equitable distribution of energy and quality water.A Nation where agriculture, industry and service sector work together in symphony,absorbing technology thereby resulting in sustained wealth generation leading to higher employment potential.A Nation where education is not denied to any meritorious candidates because of societalor economic discrimination

A Nation which is the best destination for the most talented scholars and scientists allover the worldA Nation where the best of health care is available to all the billion population and thediseases like AIDS/TB, water borne diseases, Cardiac diseases and Cancer are extinctA Nation where the governance uses the best of technologies to be responsive,transparent, easily accessible and simple in rules, thereby corruption freeA Nation where poverty has been totally alleviated, illiteracy and crime against womenare eradicated and the society is un-alienated.

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A Nation that is one of the best places to live in, on the Earth and brings smiles to a billion facesThese are the ten dimensional transformations needed for a competitive India and wehave to work for.

Peace in the offing:For continuing our mission of national development and economic growth in our sub-

continent, peace is a paramount ingredient. Most nations have realized that low intensity proxy wars, deterrence-based build-ups and real wars are too expensive distractions fromthe perceived visions of development.

The development of the society also weans away its people from destructive activities of alienation, leading to celebration of peace-makers.

When guns are silentFlowers blossom on the earthFragrance engulfs good soulsWho created beautiful silence

India will always be grateful to the successful peacemakers

Towards Unity of minds:Dear citizens, when I assumed office on 25th July 2002, I addressed the need for unity of minds becoming one of the focused missions for our nation.

Recently fifteen gurus, acharyas, swamijis, maulavis, reverent fathers, spiritual leaders,devotees and the representatives of many religions met at Surat [ Images ] in the presenceof His Holiness Acharya Mahaprajna and deliberated for two days and took vitaldecisions to ensure religions graduate into a spiritual force.

Also, they have declared that the nation is bigger than any leader or individual or anorganisation. They had collectively evolved five inter-religious projects for implementation. The Nation's best wishes to our spiritual leaders and their mission of transforming religions into a spiritual force.

Challenges Before Us:Also certain challenges before the nation are to be addressed collectively in theimmediate future to facilitate faster pace of national development.

Service to Society:Our scientists should become civic scientists and contribute towards societal

transformation, civic means concerning or affecting the community or the people.

In the new capacity, scientists step beyond their campuses, laboratories, ministries andinstitutes and move into the centre of their communities to engage in active dialogue andaction with their fellow citizens.

They should ask themselves a question, how their knowledge can make an impact on thecommon man's life. Our civil servants and others in the service sector should become

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fearlessly people-friendly have a positive attitude, and provide responsive, proactive,transparent and unbiased administration and service to the billion people.

Primary Education:Assent has been accorded for the 86th Constitution Amendment Act - Right to EducationBill for children between the age group of 5-14 years. Urgent action is needed for providing suitable school infrastructure and appointment of good teachers for running the

schools for providing quality education to children blended with modern technologies of e-learning and tele-education.

While doing so, a review of the syllabus is also required to prevent overloading of thechildren for ensuring blossoming of their creativity.

Protecting the Brand Image of Higher Education:The nation's vision of developed India requires greater thrust to scientific andtechnological advancements. All our IITs, IIMs have graduated as world class brandinstitutions in addition to the century old premier institution - Indian Institute of Science,Bangalore.

These characteristics must be preserved and nurtured. We should also encourageuniversities to become cradles of higher learning and research, contributing generation of high skilled global human resource force.

Examination Reforms:Often, we have witnessed that many important national examinations have been the targetof attack by a select group of corrupt individuals who undermine the very fabric of secrecy and transparency of the conduct of these examinations.

While we should deal with such individuals with sternness to protect the image of our

national selection system and the quality, we should also find technological solution thatcan ensure tamperproof examination system.

Agriculture and Agro Food Processing:With farmers in focus, farming technology as their friend, and food processing andmarketing as partners is indeed the second green revolution. From now on to 2020, Indiawould have to gradually increase production to around 400 million tonnes per annum.This increase will have to be done under the reduced availability of land from 170 millionhectares to 100 million hectares and with reduced water availability, using technologicalinputs.

Pharmaceuticals:Institutions of Pharmaceutical sciences and Pharma industries need to evolve anintegrated and comprehensive National Pharma Vision to meet the challenges of designto drug development, production and marketing. The major challenge before the pharmacommunity is to prevent the entry of spurious drugs and eradicate its presence in themarket.



Space:With our self-reliance in our space programme, it is we entered the global marketaggressively. The exploration of the moon through 'Chandrayaan' and keeping our sighton Mars [ Images ] will electrify the entire country, particularly young scientists andchildren.

Defence:

Modernisation of our armed forces with force multipliers is indeed progressing to meetnational security needs. Defence technology has led to the development of long-rangemissile systems and supersonic cruise missiles, Light Combat

Aircraft, Electronic warfare systems, radars, under-water sensors, combat vehicles andarmaments. The Indo-Russian joint venture programme - BrahMos - is one of the leadingexamples of development, production and marketing of state- of-the-art missile system.

Energy:Our power generation capacity of 100,000Megawatt has to be tripled by the year 2020. Inaddition to power generation from conventional sources, we need to enhance power

generation capacity through non-conventional energy sources to attain power security.Also, the present nuclear capacity of 2700 Megawatts should be enhanced to more than20,000Megawatt by 2020.

Desalination plants can be co-located with proposed nuclear power plants for convertingsea water to drinking water. We need to establish large solar farms of 800 to1000Megawatt capacity to augment energy availability.

S&T Growth:Every academic institution and R&D organisation is a reservoir of knowledge.Technology will also spin off to societal products, which are cost effective, high-quality

and available to the people in time. Thrust is required in Nano-science and biotechnologyto achieve leadership in these areas in the coming decade.

Scientists and technologists must undertake a health mission - Let my brain remove the pain. The scientific community must realize that competitiveness can come only byintegrated mission driven programmes partnered by academy, R&D organisations andindustry.

Civic Awareness:The status of environmental cleanliness is one of the indicators of development of anation. As a nation, we have to keep our environment clean and tidy. This is essential for

better health conditions of all the citizens and also for presenting a wholesome andaesthetic atmosphere for us, and also tourists. It is essential that we keep all our places of worship and rivers clean and tidy to preserve their innate divinity. Each one of the Statesmay promulgate appropriate local laws for promoting harmonious environment in their regions.

Election Manifesto:The general elections for 14th Lok Sabha will take place in 2004. I was thinking what

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could be the manifesto of the competing political parties for the election. India has morethan 540 million people who are 25 or below. India is a nation of youth.

During my interactions with the youth of our country, two aspects came out very clearly.One is that the young have a passion, self-respect and dream to live in a developed India.Second, they want to live in a corruption free India.

I can see these two are glowing in their eyes. I am also convinced that we should builddeveloped India in a time bound way to prevent instability in the society.

Hence the manifesto of the political parties has to take into account their aspirations anddesigned to meet the dreams of the young and be resonant with their aspirations withidentified missions and action plans. Every political party must clearly state its vision,action plan and approach for achieving a developed India and how fast they can realizethese missions in quality and quantity.

Voter's Responsibility:Every citizen has got a role to choose the right representative for Parliament and

legislatures, whose vision is that of national development and who has concern for his/her constituency and the people.

The right to vote is the greatest power given to you by democracy, so that you canreinforce further democratic values.

I would like to appeal to all eligible voters to exercise their franchise without fail, fear or favour. A large voter turn out will be the first step towards realization of a developedIndia, and the second step would be to become enlightened righteous citizens.

Movement by Young Citizens:

Which is the starting point, for the character evolution in the nation? Dear citizens, let meshare with you an incident, which took place somewhere in Nagaland.

I was talking to a group of 600 persons consisting of young children, their parents andteachers. The topic I selected was the knowledge society, foundation for a developedIndia.

One boy who was studying in 10th class, asked: Mr President, tell me is it possible for anation to get transformed into a developed country, when there is corruption everywhere?

This question greatly upset the many faces of the experienced generation. I said the

question is beautiful and I must answer.

Fortunately, the boy's parents and teachers were sitting by his side. I asked both: Do youhave an answer?

They said: Mr President, he shouldn't have asked such a question, which is beyond hisage. Please ignore it, sir.



How can I ignore such a valuable mind? I must answer. My answer was the following:We can create any number of laws in the country. No law can remove corruption fully.However there are only three members of the society, who can remove corruption. I callit as a 'Three dimensional action' plan. Who are these three members? They are father,mother and elementary school teacher.

In this connection, I would like to recall a famous statement from a Vedic Guru, who

said: You give me a child for seven years - after that, no God or devil can change thechild.

That is the power of the teacher.

My dear young friends, when you hear my national broadcast, please ask yourself aquestion, what can be the greatest contribution that the youth can give without disturbingtheir academic pursuit. You have to commence a silent revolution for removal of corruption by rightly reforming those who go against righteousness in your families.

You all must endeavour to make the home you live, beautiful and righteous. You

definitely have the power on your parents to do so, with love and affection.

Dear Citizens, now I would like to administer an oath for the youth which I would likethe youths to repeat with me now, wherever you are. Are you ready?

Ten point oath for the youth of the nation:I will pursue my education or work with dedication and I will excel in itFrom now onwards, I will teach at least 10 persons who cannot read and write to do soI will plant at least 10 saplings and shall ensure their growth through constant careI will visit rural and urban areas and permanently wean away at least 5 persons fromaddiction and gambling

I will constantly endeavor to remove the pain of my suffering brethrenI will not support any religious, caste or language differentiationI will be honest and endeavour for a corruption-free societyI will work for becoming an enlightened citizen and make my family righteousI will always be a friend of the mentally and physically challenged and will work hard tomake them feel normal, like the rest of usI will proudly celebrate the success of my country and my people

Conclusion:India is very fortunate to have 540 million youth out of a billion people. We are doingwell in agriculture, our industry is on the upswing and our performance in the services

sector is also equally good. Time has now come for us to make our country righteous.

Righteousness comes out of good character. The evolution of good character leads toharmony in home. Harmony in home leads the people of the State to become enlightenedcitizens. Enlightened citizens will make planet Earth a peaceful world.



Let us rededicate ourselves on this occasion of the 55th Republic Day to work towardsmaking India a prosperous, happy and secure nation, with a smile on its billion faces.Almighty, the God is with us.

DISHONEST INDUSTRIALISTS, scandalous politicians and corrupt IAS, IRS, IPSofficers have deposited in foreign banks in their illegal personal accounts a sum of about$ 1500 billion, which have been misappropriated by them. This amount is about 13 timeslarger than the country’s foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people can get Rs1,00,000 each. This huge amount has been appropriated from the people of India byexploiting and betraying them.

Once this huge amount of black money and property comes back to India, the entireforeign debt can be repaid in 24 hours. After paying the entire foreign debt, we will havesurplus amount, almost 12 times larger than the foreign debt. If this surplus amount isinvested in earning interest, the amount of interest will be more than the annual budget of the Central government. So even if all the taxes are abolished, then also the Centralgovernment will be able to maintain the country very comfortably.

Some 80,000 people travel to Switzerland every year, of whom 25,000 travel veryfrequently. “Obviously, these people won’t be tourists. They must be travelling there for some other reason,” believes an official involved in tracking illegal money. And, clearly,he isn’t referring to the commerce ministry bureaucrats who’ve been flitting in and out of Geneva ever since the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations went into atailspin!

Just read the following details and note how these dishonest industrialists, scandalous

politicians, corrupt officers, cricketers, film actors, illegal sex trade and protected wildlifeoperators, to name just a few, sucked this country’s wealth and prosperity. This may bethe picture of deposits in Swiss banks only. What about other international banks?

Black money in Swiss banks -- Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:

Top five

India---- $1456 billionRussia---$ 470 billion

UK-------$390 billionUkraine- $100 billionChina-----$ 96 billion

Now do the maths - India with $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined. Public loot since 1947: Can we bring back our money? It is one of the biggest loots witnessed by mankind -- the loot of the Aam Aadmi

(common man) since 1947, by his brethren occupying public office. It has been

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orchestrated by politicians, bureaucrats and some businessmen. The list is almost all-encompassing. No wonder, everyone in India loots with impunity and without any fear.

What is even more depressing in that this ill-gotten wealth of ours has been stashed awayabroad into secret bank accounts located in some of the world’s best known tax havens.And to that extent the Indian economy has been stripped of its wealth. Ordinary Indiansmay not be exactly aware of how such secret accounts operate and what are the rules and

regulations that go on to govern such tax havens. However, one may well be aware of ’Swiss bank accounts,’ the shorthand for murky dealings, secrecy and of course pilferagefrom developing countries into rich developed ones.

In fact, some finance experts and economists believe tax havens to be a conspiracy of thewestern world against the poor countries. By allowing the proliferation of tax havens inthe twentieth century, the western world explicitly encourages the movement of scarcecapital from the developing countries to the rich.

In March 2005, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) published a research findingdemonstrating that $11.5 trillion of personal wealth was held offshore by rich individuals

across the globe. The findings estimated that a large proportion of this wealth wasmanaged from some 70 tax havens.Other Articles by Ramesh C. Manghirmalani

• Google Plans Its Own Operating System• Global Entrepreneurship Form of social responsibility• Terrorism, not just India's problem any more• Blaming Indians for the crisis• If offshoring evolves and grows, India will grow too

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Further, augmenting these studies of TJN, Raymond Baker -- in his widely celebrated book titled ’Capitalism’s Achilles Heel: Dirty Money and How to Renew the Free MarketSystem’ -- estimates that at least $5 trillion have been shifted out of poorer countries tothe West since the mid-1970. It is further estimated by experts that one per cent of theworld’s population holds more than 57 per cent of total global wealth, routing itinvariably through these tax havens. How much of this is from India is anybody’s guess.

What is to be noted here is that most of the wealth of Indians parked in these tax havensis illegitimate money acquired through corrupt means. Naturally, the secrecy associatedwith the bank accounts in such places is central to the issue, not their low tax rates as theterm ’tax havens’ suggests. Remember Bofors and how India could not trace the ultimate beneficiary of those transactions because of the secrecy associated with these bank accounts? IS THERE ANY ONE WHO WOULD SAVE INDIA ?God... No No No, even hecan’t..........!!

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