Ok, essay is finally complete. I'm really out of practice at writing essays on abstract ideas. Probably because I've not had to do it in... uh... well, at least 10 years.
Initial draft is below. This needs a bunch of revision, but I have a bye week coming up the second week of June, so I'm going to sit down and polish up a bunch of essays that week. This was far harder than it should have been to write. Probably because I just kept procrastinating.
“Wisdom: Good judgment, the ability to perceive people and situations correctly, deliberate about and decide on the correct response.” ADF Dedicant Manual
“The quality or state of being wise; knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight.” Dictionary.com
Wisdom comes from the interplay between good judgement and moral action. Without both parts, wisdom becomes ignorance or rash action.
Good judgement can arise from both experience or lessons learned from others. Many things can be learned through experience (the stove is hot!), however, in some cases, the experience or knowledge sought can be obtained from others, through books or by simply asking (the consequences of war). The ability of humans to learn and apply knowledge not only from their own past but also the past experience of others can be argued to be one of the markers that sets humans apart.
Moral action is also a key component. Having the knowledge to advise on a situation but failing to act in accordance with that knowledge is a profoundly unethical act. There may be times where the ethical course of action is inaction, however, inaction is still an action. Moral action is an action that appropriately responds to a situation while aiming to reduce harm and magnify kindness.
Wisdom is intricately linked to both courage and vision. Vision is needed to foresee the consequences of an action and to take additional steps to lessen harm. It is sometimes impossible to avoid all harm, however, the virtuous harms the least and assists the most. Performing the wise, moral thing sometimes requires courage. What is right and what is easy are rarely the same action.
So yeah, obviously needs work, but once I have a draft, it gets a lot easier to manage.
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