Beyond Wisdom

A wise man once said, and we will believe anything wont we? Especially if that wise man had a famous name. Or more importantly a name that we revere. I can never imagine I am the one saying this, but it is not wise to focus too much on wisdom. Don't take my wisdom for it. In this edition of your favourite kindness blog, we will critically examine the limits of wisdom, and how one can get entangled in a web of 'musts' and 'shoulds' simply being hard on oneself.

My earliest encounter with wisdom was in childhood, where there was a "moral of the story". There was Panchatantra, Jataka tales, Aesop's fables, what not. Then there were some proverbs we were made to write in school, mostly at the beginning of the day. Growing up, I was attracted to movies, stories that gave away wisdom of all sorts, ancient, modern, deep, common sensical, any way or form. Whenever I felt bogged down, or was stuck at crossroads, I gained direction and comfort from such wisdom bookmarked through the decades. Until, I started realising that there were multiple or even contradicting pieces of wisdom on the same point. If anything, it added to my confusion and landed me in analysis paralysis. Take the following, for example:

"Silence is golden" v/s "Speak up your mind"

"Honesty is the best policy" v/s "A little kindness goes a long way."

"Ends justify the means" v/s "Journey is more important than the destination"

"Never give up" v/s "True happiness is letting go"

"Slow but steady wins the race" v/s "Sometimes your best is not enough, you need to do what is necessary"

And these are just the more generic. When you get into specific life situations things can become tricky with very high stakes. Take relationships for example. What is the point beyond which you decide that toxic red flags mean you need to part, rather than "make it work"? Both options are absolutely valid, logical, and "wise" courses of actions. But there is no credible way of knowing what those actions will culminate into. And the downside outcomes can be devastating at best. So how helpful is wisdom there? Similarly for financial decisions, some say save for the rainy day. Some say live today, carpe diem, for tomorrow never comes. Interesting how the same fact of impermanence results in completely opposite directions. So what do we do? Is there nothing known as wisdom? And if each opposite piece of advice has applicability in different circumstances, how do we determine them?

THE ALPACA DOCTRINE-BEYOND WISDOM

The fuzzy warm alpaca says, moderation is the key. The most moderate and non-contradictory piece of wisdom one can come across, is to take any piece of wisdom with a pinch of salt. Be wise to look beyond wisdom. What worked for someone, in some place, time, circumstance, may or may not work for you. Look at it like a guidebook rather than a GPS enabled map. There will always be some circumstance where a given piece will not be useful. While facing a murderer ready to slice your neck, it may not be the best timing to practice empathy and understand their life's tragedy. In most of life's not so extreme cases, there will be some level of ambiguity. Capitalism, socialism, communism, any religion-ism, atheism, violence, non-violence, honesty, dishonesty, ambition, satisfaction, nothing is right or wrong. There will always be something right and wrong at the same time. One cannot be 100% future proof while taking decisions. Be kind to yourself, assess your situation, and take an approach that can help you sleep peacefully. Know that you had the best intentions, did not take an easy way out, and hand on heart, tried your best. Then, wisdom doesn't matter.

Peace.