What is Ancient Wisdom?

Although each age needn’t invent the wheel, each must learn how to use it anew; this is the story of mankind. From his genesis, man has sought to formulate and express wisdom in monuments, rituals, doctrines, music, paintings. These cultural mores are passed from generation to generation, along with the burden of breathing new life into them. Through this ancient chain of benefactors and beneficiaries, wisdom has threaded its way through the eons to our age, which is why we call it ancient wisdom.

Wisdom is not finally tested in schools;
Wisdom cannot be pass’d from one having it, to another not having it;
Wisdom is of the Soul, is not susceptible of proof, is its own proof,
Applies to all stages and objects and qualities, and is content…

– Walt Whitman

knowledge and wisdom

Wisdom is so close to knowledge that the one cannot be approached without touching the other. To understand the nature of wisdom, we must contrast it with its brother, knowledge.

Knowledge can exist without anyone harboring it, as in a book, a library or a website. Wisdom, on the other hand, is inseparable of its owner. So long as knowledge remains unconsumed, like the book that has yet to be read, it remains inanimate. Yet once the book is read and its instruction put to practice, knowledge can be transformed into wisdom. One definition of wisdom is, therefore, living knowledge.

Since wisdom is alive and knowledge is inanimate, the two have different lifespans. Knowledge can be passed on from one person to another by a mere handing over of a book. Wisdom, on the other hand, cannot be bestowed; it must be earned and constantly reaffirmed. Being alive, wisdom possesses a finite lifespan after which it inevitably dies.

Yet neither does knowledge last forever. Like the child’s game of ‘broken telephone’, the message of knowledge is whispered from one ear to the next – from one generation to the next – till it assumes an entirely different character than when its origin. The transmission of knowledge is, therefore, heavily prone to misinterpretation and distortion. Knowledge is as mortal as wisdom, but it’s degeneration is slower.

the resurrection of ancient wisdom

Wisdom is non-transferable. It is gained through experience. He who possesses wisdom can bequeath only his knowledge and instruct his beneficiary how to put it into practice. Only through practical application of this legacy can the beneficiary breathe new life into his inheritance. Thus, we say that transforming knowledge into wisdom is a form of resurrection.

The image of an ancient Ark wading through the floods of time is, therefore, most appropriate. What goes up must come down: now mankind exhibits a profound civilization that produces a rich legacy; then time degenerates it into savage barbarism. Nevertheless, driven by the next wave of time, mankind rises again to express its ancient wisdom anew.

ancient wisdom in the information age

Our age is, very likely, the most prone to confusing knowledge with wisdom. The availability of information is overwhelming. We publish an unprecedented amount of books and movies each year, most of which disappear into obscurity, if not total oblivion, within months of their release. Their immediate relevance makes them temporarily popular, until a new work outruns and overshadows them. They entertain rather than inspire; inform rather than instruct. They prove poor conductors of wisdom.

Yet despite today’s crowded bookshelves, the ancient bodies of wisdom remain prominent sources of inspiration. And this holds true to all areas: Greek architecture persists in the triangular roof of our home and the architecture of our capitol; Shakespeare comedy and tragedy persist in our favorite books and movies; Hebrew, Latin and Sanskrit still stand at the very roots of the languages with which we communicate. The influence of ancient classics has subtly trickled down to present times and is likely to persist in times to come.

By the same token, those works of our age that will successfully capture the spirit of ancient wisdom will be blessed with longevity. Ark in Time opens a door to the resurrection of ancient wisdom. Here we share the fruits of decades of work from among hundreds of individuals both living and deceased, who have dedicated their lives to transforming knowledge into wisdom. Drawing from the ancient flood myth, we seek to preserve the valuable contents through an imminent flood. But ark, contents and flood are not physical: the content is wisdom, the flood is time, and the ark is our own expression of the ancient legacy.

Modern knowledge, ancient wisdom

As a rule, human beings begin in alienation and end in reconciliation. German philosopher, Immanuel Kant meant something to that effect when he defined enlightenment as man’s emergence from self-imposed immaturity. Disharmony is the offspring of immaturity. So, should ancient wisdom and modern knowledge walk hand-in-hand and to what end? In the olden days, when you wanted a knife to be made, you went to a blacksmith and asked him to make one for you. He always asked a question, “A knife for what?” To cut vegetables? To carve out meat? To sharpen pencils? The shape of the knife depends on its purpose. Purpose is all-important.

Why did knowledge and wisdom part company? Knowledge, in a technology-driven culture, is only know-how. Even the know-how is limited to the power quotient. At the heart of the Western, née modern context, paradigm of knowledge is the dictum: knowledge is power. This reduces knowledge to manipulative intelligence, which is, at best, only a minuscule part of knowledge. So, in effect, knowledge was equated with, and mistaken for, a sliver of it.

In the Indian context, knowledge bred humility. A genuine scholar was a humble one. In the modern paradigm, it breeds arrogance and elitism. Humility stems from the awareness of the whole. Arrogance issues from the presumed mastery of a part, mistaking it to be the whole. Arrogance is the charade of immaturity, nourished by ignorance.

Knowledge, to be whole, must also embrace the know-why, as Socrates said. This too is knowledge. Perhaps, radical knowledge; without which the know-how is incomplete. When these two part company, knowledge fails to nourish life and empower the human. But wisdom is not merely ancient! Wisdom is a necessary perspective on everything about life, including knowledge. We should be wise especially in the pursuit of knowledge. The danger, otherwise, is, as the old aphorism goes, “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

Jacques Ellul, the French philosopher, gave a detailed interview titled, ‘The Great Betrayal of the West’ in which he lamented the tyrannical domination of technology, or the know-how, over us. We are enslaved by it to an extent that, he said, we dare not realise. Technology coerces us into conformity. You can feel it as you drive over a hump. You adjust to the movement of the car, not vice versa. Each time mobile technology changes, we fall in line.

The shaping goal of ancient wisdom, reflected in our traditional approach to learning, was the complete realisation of the self. This looks like an antiquarian goal, too anachronistic to be pursued today. But is it really so? Is not living a series of relationships between the self and our life-world? How well a book is read, how responsibly a tool or office is used, how sensitively relationships are handled: do not all of these depend on who we are? And how can we live meaningfully, without knowing who we are?

Wisdom, Socrates said, is knowing what you need. The assumption that the educated need not be wise is scary. Maintaining such a view, despite the evidence that screams against it, is irresponsible. But, let us ensure that it is wisdom, and not some mumbo-jumbo, that is imported into education using reform as a Trojan Horse.

No, wisdom is the most vital attribute for excellence in this modern era. It is the most acknowledged when we make good use of our wisdom. In the early history of mankind, it was always said that life is the survival of the fittest but now in our new era of life, it is now the survival of the wisest.

Wisdom has separated life into phases, and we now have a world favorable for all of us. We have been able to move from the dark ages of history to a well-coordinated society. Wisdom is very important and it's very vital for the advancement of the society. The wisdom of Solomon as written in the bible is till contemporary as of today, the words of Marcus Aurelius, Socrates, and many other men and women of wisdom are still alive today, they can be applied in our today’s world and get positive results. They have inspired great inventories and has brought the world to a better understanding. They have critiqued our long-held ideologies and won us over to the better side of logic and clarity of purpose.

Wisdom is contemporary, it is not edged out by time or location. It creates and recreates. It has the propensity to change lives as years go by. Those ancient wisdom has been viable and time will not erode their values and insights they bring to our world.

knowledge - a person's correct view of facts. An incorrect view my be experienced as knowledge, but is not.
understanding - a person's ability to signify knowledge - to assign import, centrality, priority, and goodness (as distinct from evil)
wisdom - the application of knowledge and understanding as one takes action such that preferred outcomes are more likely.  Usually wisdom also connotes attention to goodness such that as many people as possible benefit from the action.

I will add one more term to the ones you provided:
receptiveness - the ability to receive new facts, including the results of one's own actions.

If these 4 definitions are accepted, then it becomes pretty clear that these are optimized when interlocked and not separated. Thus it is the chair that is important - not the plate, the back or any of its legs lying loosely as separate items on the floor.

Knowledge and wisdom are two very similar words, but have a hell lot of difference. Knowledge is the accumulation of data. Everything you observe, everything you listen, everything you read and write gets stored in your memory. This stored data is nothing but your knowledge. Wisdom, on the other hand, is the application of that data in your daily life. It is your ability to judge things based on your knowledge, and take necessary actions.
                    WISDOM = KNOWLEDGE + JUDGEMENT
     Now consider driving a car. The most basic thing in it is learning how to change the gear. This is knowledge. But while actually driving, we should be aware of how (knowledge) and when (judgement) to change the gear. Only then can we change the gear properly (wisdom).
     What I want to say is that, wisdom can only be gathered by precise knowledge and proper judgement. Of course, wisdom is the only final thing that matters. So wisdom is more valuable. But wisdom cannot be gained without proper knowledge.