On Wisdom and the Cocoa Bean.

Part of my New Year’s Eve rambling to myself (there being no other person present to whom I could ramble verbally) involved coming up with a definition of ‘wisdom.’ I couldn’t do it. Wisdom is one of those qualities – like love – which appear to exist but have no universal definition. At one point I came up with:

Wisdom counsels, but avoids advising and never instructs.

Well, I suppose there’s something of minor worth there, but it isn’t a definition. It’s just a sound bite, and sound bites are almost invariably inadequate because they consciously seek to address abstract values which are not only complex but also untouchable.

Eventually I decided that it’s probably something to do with knowing yourself, living up to your own values, seeking to augment those values, and then promoting the concept to anybody who wants to listen (and keeping quiet if they don’t.) It seemed general enough. And then I wrote this because I was bored and tired of being earnest. I wonder whether hot chocolate would help.