This column was published in the Friday, Jan. 25 edition of the Benicia Herald

For some reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about wisdom recently. What comes to your mind when this topic comes up? Or does it come up at all? I realize that it isn’t something that I’ve discussed with others recently. If this hasn’t been on your radar screen either, how about joining me in thinking about it for a few minutes today? I think that it’s worth our time.

What is wisdom anyway? How would you define it? As I approach this question, I realize that defining wisdom for me is going to require a kind of archeological dig. It seems to me that it’s a word that deserves respect and dignity. All I can offer now is a rather primitive attempt at a definition. It’s embarrassing, but here it is.

I think of wisdom as a deep understanding of life that reflects insight and a profound ability to discern connections and consequences, and countenance intelligent actions. My computer dictionary defines wisdom as, “the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement.” For me, that’s too pragmatic and not elevated enough, especially when it adds this useless addendum: “The quality of being wise.”

Really, how absurd to use the root of a word in its definition. That doesn’t help. I like my in-the-moment definition better anyway, although it still has a long way to go before it’s tweaked and polished.

Four things prompted this reflection on wisdom for me. First, as someone who is 80, wisdom occasionally floats in and out of my consciousness because, darn it, I want to be a wise person! But, unfortunately I haven’t witnessed any of those pearls––Isn’t that what they’re called?––rolling off my tongue of late.

Second, I received a book on wisdom for Christmas. It’s entitled Becoming Wise by Krista Tippett. It’s a slow read because every page is an education. One thing I quickly learned is that it’s going to take me even longer to define wisdom than I had imagined!

Tippett views wisdom as synonymous with the art of living. Her following passage proposes that becoming wise is a strategic action that typically includes the study of different qualities or aspects of life. Using love as an example, she says, “If we are stretching to live wiser and not just smarter, we will aspire to know what love means, how it arises and deepens, how it withers and revives…”

Hmmm. I may have been off base. I had envisioned that becoming wise would be less strategic and more of a natural, evolutionary process. I’m not certain I agree with Tippett.

Third, a couple of weeks ago, Carquinez Village hosted our inaugural “Over 80 Club!” Close to one-third of our 97 members are both pretty amazing as well as over 80. We asked them to engage in a discussion about the challenges, positives, and surprises of aging. As I listened and looked around, it occurred to me that there was a whole heck of a lot of wisdom in that room.

The idea for “The Over Eighty Club” came from a member in her 90s who said that she’d like to talk with her peers about their experiences in the final decades of their lives. She explained that as life gets closer to its end, different issues, thoughts, and concerns emerge. The way in which her suggestion resonated with others around the room convinced me that it was rooted in wisdom. Everyone asked to have the “Club” become a regular event! Having a targeted conversation with others in their ‘80s and ‘90s obviously made sense.

Lastly, I heard Michele Obama being interviewed the other day and found myself saying to no one in particular, “Now there is one wise woman!” What prompted me to say this, I wondered to myself. In thinking about it, the former first lady fits my definition of someone who has developed a deep understanding of life and––adding to my growing list of wisdom traits—has learned how to live authentically, lovingly, and constructively within it. Remember her response to Trump during the campaign? “When they go low, we go high.” Yup, I thought, “She is one wise women!”

I think that a way to proceed in exploring the nature of wisdom is to study those whom we think of as wise. Thich nhat hnah, The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., Ghandi, and the Dalai Lama come immediately to mind. Who would be on your list? It occurs to me that this is a good question for the “Over Eighty” folks.

Back to you. However you proceed in life, I hope that you grow in wisdom along the way.

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