Google and Taekwondo

ProetryPlace Blog 45

Google Can't Teach You Everything

(But It Helps)

Isaac Asimov: “People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

    It is alleged by many that with age comes wisdom. Thus the clan and church leaders are “elders.” The median age for those elected president of the United States is 55 (although the legal age requirement is 20 years younger), old enough to have met a variety of life’s challenges, yet young enough to withstand the rigors of the office.

    Many social activities, e.g. voting , driving, drinking alcohol, are prohibited under a minimum age when sufficient wisdom has supposedly been attained. Admittedly, these age designations are somewhat arbitrary and imperfect as are many of our “one size fits all” laws. Still, any attempt to fine-tune them via, say, a wisdom test, would no doubt be equally arbitrary and subject to flaws. Just look how many maniacs are on the roads that have been qualified by driver tests, for example.

    A few of my younger grandchildren have not yet figured out that I am not the smartest man on earth. The fact that I can still help them with their 3rd-grade math or can recite a few historical facts maintains a sufficient knowledge gap for them to usually accept my advice and judgment. This will all change when they become teens and know everything there is to know.

    Of course, knowledge is not wisdom, nor will age itself guarantee the attainment of either. Some seem to have special insights to life or metaphysics or music or motorcycle maintenance that most of the population does not possess. My young son, even before he could read or write, often amazed me by pointing out practical mechanical solutions to problems I was attempting to analyze with the powers of advanced mathematics. He still does. Albert Einstein seems to have had it right again when he said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

    But age does bring at least exposure to a broad spectrum of experience that youth is not privilege to. What we learn from this experience can be stowed away and combined with other learning to become what we call wisdom, or it may lead to previously unsynthesized knowledge in what we call innovation. Aldous Huxley put it this way, “Experience is not what happens to you, it’s what you do with what happens to you.”

    What would a discussion of wisdom be without a quote from Confucius? Here’s one. “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is the noblest; Second, by imitation, which is the easiest; Third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
    Wisdom may cost dearly, but there are few rewards in life as gratifying—even thrilling would not be hyperbole—as those light-bulb moments of suddenly realized wisdom, the epiphany of new truth, no matter how simple or complex.

    A recent article in our local newspaper reported on a six year old boy who had won top honors in a 40-pounds-and-under wrestling contest. The pint-sized dynamo appeared to be strong and healthy, but I am certain that superior wrestling wisdom, rather than superior physical strength, provided his advantage over other diminutive opponents. He had learned more and better moves. Some were taught by his coach. The best ones he discovered, somewhat accidently, by experience.

     When I was about his age, a certain larger classmate regularly instigated wrestling matches on the school playground with opponents he was confident in humbling. I knew my day was coming, much against my wishes. But I carried a secret weapon in my mind—a piece of advice my older brother had given me on the art of wrestling. The bully finally attacked and quickly put me down on my back. As I lay struggling with all my strength to escape, my brother’s advice pushed through my panic. After pushing mightily against my attacker in one direction, I suddenly shifted to the other. Voila—Richard on top, Bully on the bottom. Luckily his wrestling wisdom had not attained the same sophistication as mine, and that ended the match as well as deterring all future attacks. With his new-found respect, we became friends.

    The same principle of using one’s opponent’s own strength to unbalance and defeat him is the basis for fighting moves in many of the martial arts. It is a principle not limited to physical confrontatons, but readily extrapolated to intellectual endeavors as well, to “ lead another down the garden path” as it were. Good writers, especially those in the mystery genre, skillfully apply this device to bring surprise and enlightenment to the reader. Mark Twain’s advice for writers: “Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.”

    The downside of wisdom is that the thrill of discovery becomes a more rare occasion as we become more jaded in experience. The young mind soaks up new knowledge indiscriminately and with ease and shuttles it off without conscious effort into some amazingly intricate mental filing system. Occasionally, a willed or unwilled juxtaposition of file folders leads to totally new revelations whether on a personal or universal truth level.

    From Proverbs, 18:4, “The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters. The wellspring of wisdom is as a flowing brook.” Thus I endeavor to maintain a youthful mind. Thus I continue to search and to learn, still open to the next Eureka moment, still seeking wisdom and enlightenment. As Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing.”

Richard Allen Anderson     March, 2014     http://richardandersonblogs.blogspot.com