Wisdom

“Well I am certainly wiser than this man. It is only too likely that neither of us has any knowledge to boast of; but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance. At any rate it seems that I am wiser than he is to this small extent, that I do not think that I know what I do not know.”
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance.”
“One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.”
--Socrates

"Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance."
--Confucius

"Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance."
--George Bernard Shaw



"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe...

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."
1Corinthians 1:19-31

***

"Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let hm become a fool, that he may be wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours..."
1Corinthians 3:18-21

***

"Knowledge puffeth up, but charity (love) edifieth.

And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know."
1Corinthians 8:1-2

***

"Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.

This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."
James 3:13-18

***

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith..."
Philippians 3:8-9

***

"And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding."
Job 28:28

The Triple Filter Test

Greek philosopher Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day he came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"

"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me, I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

"Triple filter?"

"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say.

The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"

"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and..."

"All right," said Socrates, "so you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"

"No, on the contrary..."

"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about my student, even though you're not certain it's true?"

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter -- the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?"

"No, not really."

"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?"

The man was defeated and ashamed. This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.



Here is a useful lesson that we should apply as often as possible -- especially since human beings have an irrepressible urge to gossip. The Bible itself is full of exhortations about that.

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

"Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth."

"The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly."

Really, what could be more detrimental to a friendship than saying something unfavorable about someone to another person who is not involved? Why not say it straight to the person involved instead? If one doesn't have the guts to directly say what he or she wants to say to the individual in question then what is the purpose of saying it to someone else? Doesn't the Bible say "go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone?" As an experiment, try striking up a conversation with anyone and see how long it takes before something derogatory is said about a common acquaintance. It should be interesting to see if you even get past the fingers of one hand when counting the persons who didn't say anything negative about someone else in one sitting.