Maxim Monday: Be a Seeker of Wisdom

I feel like this one has been covered before in the Maxim series. But we always need nudges to remind us to seek wisdom, no?

This is another Maxim that I think I’ve got covered. Once upon a time I was a seeker of knowledge. Until only recently I felt almost as though I could never get enough knowledge. I devoured books. I pursued degree programs. I wanted more. I was hungry for knowledge, and I hoarded it, like a book collectors stack books on shelves. (Until I moved to Wales I hoarded books, too.)

In the course of the last two to three years, since quitting my PhD program and starting this blog, I have come to understand the difference between wisdom and knowledge. Before, I understood the semantic difference, but I didn’t have the lived understanding of it. Now I think I do. Now, I is it wisdom I seek.

I know that I have the skills to learn whatever it is I want to know. I rest in the knowledge that I have. I’m even ok knowing that I’ve forgotten much of what I’ve already learned! What I want now is wisdom. I seek to learn from others, their experience and accumulated knowledge. I want to learn from my own experience. I want to learn from trial and error. I want to link up my brain with my heart.

Wisdom is not just about facts and information. Wisdom is about applied knowledge, about learning from experience. These days, I seek that. I am a seeker of wisdom.