Wisdom

Tell a wise person or else keep silent

for those who do not understand

will mock it right away.

Our tendency to try to escape from the universe to find a nirvana that’s sort of quiet and peaceful and apart from all this hullabaloo is undermined completely by the realization of the nature of reality. You realize that the wisdom of the nature of reality leads you into compassion for the beings who are here, and the little bit of bliss that you... See more

According to Igor Grossmann1, a Toronto-based psychologist and wisdom researcher, perspective-taking is necessary for wisdom. At the heart of wisdom is what he calls “perspectival meta-cognition,” which includes the ability to consider multiple viewpoints. This can be dangerous to agency maximizers, as it risks disrupting the clarity that a... See more

The dream of a Liberal (arts) education—which is the scaled, democratic form of the Keatsian ideal of negative capability—cannot hold up when liberalism itself is held to be suspect.

The Keatsian endeavor has never been popular, but is particularly unfashionable today. Religious fundamentalists reject it on the grounds that revelation and commitment are needed to orient oneself in the world. The amorality of a poet who is a “thoroughfare for all thoughts” risks heresy or destabilization. Tell me where you stand, where your... See more