Living Wisely

—Seeking real good

Introduction

Stages of growth toward living wisely.

How do you want to live your life? Do you choose to live wisely? What are the steps that any of us can take, starting now, to live more wisely?

Wisdom is an advanced state of personal development that relies on extraordinary knowledge. Wisdom is rooted in perspectives, interpretations, values, and courageous actions. Wisdom extracts meaning and significance from information by understanding interrelationships and their implications. Wisdom is a profound understanding of our existence, the human situation, our possibilities, and especially our limitations. Wisdom is a way of interpreting knowledge by viewing it from a variety of illuminating perspectives and using human values and holistic priorities to make better sense of it. Wisdom applies this knowledge and takes creative and courageous action to solve problems, create opportunities, and increase the well-being of all. Philosopher Nicholas Maxwell defines wisdom as “the capacity, the desire, and the active endeavor to realize what is of value in life, for oneself and others.”

Values are at the core of wisdom, some say that human values will determine the future. Wise values begin by recognizing the interrelatedness of all things and follow these mutual influences to great length. This leads to openness to experience, widening of personal concerns, and a desire to increase the well-being of all. The foolish values of ignorance, selfishness, hate, greed, envy, and revenge are rejected in favor of empathy, truth, honesty, justice, cooperation, peace, compassion, universal well-being, creativity, courage, and comprehensive knowledge. These promote flourishing—optimal development as part of the whole—of all beings. Subtle and sensitive wisdom appreciates the beauty of nature, living beings, all stages of life, art, humor, craftsmanship, and remarkable efforts. It also enjoys Being in the mysterious cosmos. Wisdom is love—wanting the best for others—and is quite clever and skilled at obtaining it.

We can each intentionally develop and increase our wisdom. We must see past the many illusions that present false representations of our universe. In addition to studying and experiencing life, certain psychological and spiritual practices—such as investigative meditation—help us explore our own psyche, quiet our mind, and make it more receptive to appreciating the laws of our subjective life: ethical understanding, moral behavior, and expanding our circle of caring in space and time. Taken to their limit, meditation and related practices can help people reach the pinnacle of wisdom—an understanding of what is eternal and what is ephemeral, as well as a profound sense of the oneness that pervades all.

Dealing effectively with life’s difficult situations can help develop wisdom. Many wise people have a history of overcoming adversity. Like many others, they have faced great challenges in their lives. But instead of feeling diminished and victimized by their circumstances, they dealt with them in positive ways and grew past them.

Objectives

The objectives of this course are to:

Completion status: this resource is ~50% complete.
Attribution: User lbeaumont created this resource and is actively using it. Please coordinate future development with him/her if possible.

Consider how you plan to approach this course. Completion of this course in-depth could require several years of study and practice. Alternatively, students may benefit from choosing a few topics offered by this course to explore in-depth, or from sampling various portions of this course at different times as your life unfolds and the topics become relevant. These decisions are entirely your own—use this course in any ways you find beneficial. Be careful if you skip steps; dreaming of possibilities before establishing a solid foundation can lead to woo-woo[1].

Development at Wikiversity is on-going. Many of the courses this course relies on and links to have yet to be developed, or are in very early stages of development. Notes identifying the status of these courses are provided as reference tags.

A predecessor to this course is available on-line at TheWisePath.org. It takes a different approach you may find is a helpful complement or alternative to this course.

The course contains many hyperlinks to further information. Use your judgment and these link following guidelines to decide when to follow a link, and when to skip over it.

This course is part of the Applied Wisdom curriculum.

If you wish to contact the instructor, please click here to send me an email or leave a comment or question on the discussion page.

Personal Responsibility

Earn trust.

Wisdom begins with your own responsibility, integrity, and basic competency.

Assignment

Begin by upholding the four agreements, and expecting others do the same.

The four agreements are:

Read the book The Four Agreements[2], memorize these four agreements, uphold them yourself in every situation, and expect others to uphold them.

Clear Thinking

Aristotle is recognized as the inventor of scientific method[5].

Only by thinking clearly can you distinguish what is real from all that is an illusion. Learn to recognize nonsense and dismiss it.

Assignment

What Is

Understanding how our universe actually is provides a firm foundation for imagining how it ought to be.

Explore our amazing world!

Assignment

Possibilities—What Can Be

Generate new and useful alternatives for living. Exercise divergent thinking.

Imagine the possibilities!

Assignment

What Ought to Be

Choose alternatives wisely to help create the wonderful world we all want. Exercise convergent thinking guided by a firm sense of morality and reality.

Know you are heading in the right direction.

Assignment

Do Good

The Good Samaritan became known for doing good.

Act to help create the wise world you want.

"Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics." — Jane Addams

Assignment

Be Good

Savor contemplation.

Enjoy being.

"Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here."—Max Ehrmann, "Desiderata"

Assignment

References

  1. ↑ James Randi began his career as a magician named The Amazing Randi, and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively calls "woo-woo"
  2. ↑ Ruiz, Don Miguel (November 7, 1997). The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom (A Toltec Wisdom Book). Amber-Allen Publishing. pp. 160. ISBN 978-1878424310.
  3. ↑ Comte-Sponville, André (September 1, 2002). A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues: The Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life. Picador. pp. 368. ISBN 978-0805045567.
  4. ↑ Covey, Stephen R. (November 19, 2013). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. Simon & Schuster. pp. 432. ISBN 978-1451639612.
  5. ↑ "As regards his method, Aristotle is recognized as the inventor of scientific method because of his refined analysis of logical implications contained in demonstrative discourse, which goes well beyond natural logic and does not owe anything to the ones who philosophized before him." – Riccardo Pozzo From: Riccardo Pozzo (2004) The impact of Aristotelianism on modern philosophy. CUA Press. p.41. ISBN 0-8132-1347-9
  6. ↑ This course is currently a stub and needs substantial work to become complete.
  7. ↑ Weston, Anthony (November 14, 2008). Rulebook for Arguments. Hackett Publishing Co, Inc. pp. 104. ISBN 978-0872209541.
  8. ↑ Copi, Irving M.; Cohen, Carl (June 20, 2001). Introduction to Logic. Prentice Hall. pp. 647. ISBN 978-0130337351.
  9. ↑ This course is currently a stub and needs substantial work to become complete.
  10. ↑ This course is currently a stub and needs substantial work to become complete.
  11. ↑ Sewell, Keith (August 10, 2013). Leaving Truth. KSMarine Services. pp. 102. ISBN 978-1456617608.
  12. ↑ Paul, Richard last2=Elder (2007). The Thinker's Guide to The Art of Socratic Questioning. The Foundation for Critical Thinking. pp. 96. ISBN 978-0944583319.
  13. ↑ Gause, Donald C.; Weinberg, Gerald M. (March 1, 1990). Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is. Dorset House Publishing Company. pp. 176. ISBN 978-0932633163.
  14. ↑ Until Wikiversity offers a Big History course, students will do well with the external course linked.
  15. ↑ The Wikiversity school of Biology is early in its development. Students may need to rely on other materials until the Wikiversity biology courses mature.
  16. ↑ Course needed. Until a course is available, perhaps materials at human nature, human nature, and Human Interaction can be helpful.
  17. ↑ Until these materials can be developed into a course, perhaps the study guide at: http://emotionalcompetency.com/searchsite.htm#study can be useful.
  18. ↑ Goleman, Daniel (September 27, 2005). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam Books. pp. 384. ISBN 978-0553383713.
  19. ↑ Lazarus, Richard S; Lazarus, Bernice N. (April 11, 1996). Passion and Reason: Making Sense of Our Emotions. Oxford University Press. pp. 336. ISBN 978-0195104615.
  20. ↑ Goleman, Daniel (March 30, 2004). Destructive Emotions: A Scientific Dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Bantam. pp. 448. ISBN 978-0553381054.
  21. ↑ Dalai Lama; Ekman, Paul (March 31, 2009). Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion. Holt Paperbacks. pp. 288. ISBN 978-0805090215.
  22. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, perhaps the resources at: http://www.wisdompage.com/2016%20Articles/Empathy%20and%20Wisdom%20Moss.pdf can be helpful.
  23. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, perhaps the resources at: http://www.emotionalcompetency.com/rules.htm#Better can be helpful.
  24. ↑ The Wikiversity school of Chemistry is early in its development. Students may need to rely on other materials until the Wikiversity chemistry courses mature.
  25. ↑ The Wikiversity Physics topic is early in its development. Students may need to rely on other materials until the Wikiversity physics courses mature.
  26. ↑ The Wikiversity geology courses are early in development. Students may need to rely on other materials until the Wikiversity geology courses mature.
  27. ↑ Course needed. Material for the course on social constructs will be developed from the books Searle, John R. (January 1, 1997). The Construction of Social Reality. Free Press. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0684831794. and Searle, John R.. Making the Social World: The Structure of Human Civilization. Oxford University Press. pp. 224. ISBN 978-0195396171. and other sources.
  28. ↑ Course needed.
  29. ↑ Course needed.
  30. ↑ See: http://globalcircle.wikispaces.com/Rethinking+Money
  31. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, the materials at: http://www.thewisepath.org/knowing.htm may be helpful.
  32. ↑ Course needed.
  33. ↑ Zander, Benjamin; Stone Zander, Rosamund (September 24, 2002). The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life. Penguin Books. pp. 201. ISBN 978-0142001103.
  34. ↑ Course needed. Until a course is developed, perhaps the materials being gathered for the creativity course can be helpful
  35. ↑ von Oech, Roger (May 5, 2008). A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative. Grand Central Publishing. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0446404662.
  36. ↑ A course in flourishing is needed.
  37. ↑ Ricard, Matthieu (January 5, 2007). Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill. Little, Brown and Company. pp. 304. ISBN 978-0316167253.
  38. ↑ Seligman, Martin E. P. (February 7, 2012). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being. Atria Books. pp. 368. ISBN 978-1439190760.
  39. ↑ Course Needed. Until a course is developed, perhaps the Beauty, awe topic of the course on What Matters can be helpful.
  40. ↑ Course needed. Until a course is developed, perhaps the materials at: http://emotionalcompetency.com/hope.htm can be helpful.
  41. ↑ Hall, Stephen S. (March 8, 2011). Wisdom: From Philosophy to Neuroscience. Vintage. pp. 352. ISBN 978-0307389688.
  42. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, the materials at: https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/What_Matters/Human_Rights and https://www.bestthinking.com/thinkers/leland-r-beaumont?tab=blog&blogpostid=22758 may be helpful.
  43. ↑ Course needed. Until the course is available, books from this reading list may be helpful. See: http://www.librarything.com/list/10594/all/Secular-Ethics Also consider materials at: http://cohe.humanistinstitute.org/free-courses/ethics/
  44. ↑ Gensler, Harry J. (March 21, 2013). Ethics and the Golden Rule. Routledge. pp. 256. ISBN 978-0415806879.
  45. ↑ Greene, Joshua (December 30, 2014). Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them. Penguin Books. pp. 432. ISBN 978-0143126058.
  46. ↑ Course needed.
  47. ↑ Course needed.
  48. ↑ Course needed.
  49. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, the materials at: http://www.thewisepath.org/courage.htm and http://emotionalcompetency.com/courage.htm may be helpful.
  50. ↑ Miller, William (February 19, 2002). The Mystery of Courage. Harvard University Press. pp. 360. ISBN 978-0674008267.
  51. ↑ Warrell, Margie (January 2, 2009). Find Your Courage: 12 Acts for Becoming Fearless at Work and in Life. McGraw-Hill Education. pp. 320. ISBN 978-0071605373.
  52. ↑ Kidder, Tracy (August 25, 2009). Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World. Random House. pp. 332. ISBN 978-0812980554.
  53. ↑ Course needed. Until it is developed, the materials at: http://www.thewisepath.org/doing%20good.htm may be helpful. Also consider the book From Dictatorship to Democracy.
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