The adventures of Mommy woman
Published on April 12, 2004 By JillUser In Personal Relationships
Brad's article about intelligence and wisdom really got me thinking about people who I think are wise and those who aren't. I believe that you can't be wise without being empathetic. Some people are naturally empathetic. Most have to learn through experience. Some never do. If you are totally self involved, you are neither empathetic nor wise.

I don't believe in the old "with age comes wisdom" addage. It isn't a given because some get through life by sticking their heads in the sand and ignoring the world around them. Such people might live to be 100 but are not wise despite their age.

On the flip side, you can be "wise for your years" but that doesn't translate to general wisdom. You must do some living and have experiences in order to gain wisdom. Therefore, age does matter when it comes to wisdom. You can be extremely intelligent and have no wisdom. You can be wise but score low on an intelligence test. It all depends on what experiences you have and what you learn from them. If you are empathetic, you are bound to learn more than otherwise.

Having the ability to relate your experiences to the experiences of others is a tricky thing. Being able to accept the fact that you just can't imagine what someone must be going through is difficult also. If you have appreciation for things that others go through, and humility to admit that there is know way you can understand it fully, then you are truly wise. You can then be open to learn from other's experiences.

Comments
on Apr 13, 2004
As this applies to JU, I think the people who have gotten blacklisted have merely shown no empathy toward the blogger they are commenting to.
on Apr 15, 2004
I think your article is right on the money. Wisdom and empathy are important. I think life experience can be too. I think people are drawn to empathy in someone.