How to Be Wise and Not Foolish with 5-Ways Wisdom

We often talk about wisdom, but what exactly is wisdom?  Some people think that following the experts is wise, while others talk about having your own beliefs and stick to them.  There are some that only trust centuries old wisdom passed down from the wise men.  There are also some that discard old thoughts and believe that wisdom needs to be updated to reflect our modern times. 

According to my over 16 years of teaching people from all walks of life, wisdom comprises of 5 things:

1. Seeing all phenomena in life as temporary, incomplete and not self.  If you can see things in this totally freeing way, you will have great security and happiness, for now you are not dependent on anything in this world, i.e. you're truly enlightened.  That's the ultimate wisdom!
2. Not any wisdom that's told by someone but true wisdom that you directly see and understand for yourself.  To do this you must have an open mind
3. Ability to listen to other points of views instead of being bigoted
4. To carefully examine facts that contradict your beliefs, rather than burying your head in the sand.  This means to be objective and not pre-judiced and to take time to form opinions and beliefs instead of just accepting the first or most emotional thing that's offered to you
5. Once you have a belief, to always be ready to change your beliefs when facts that contradict them are presented to you.  The path of just sticking to your beliefs is easy, to be able to question your own beliefs takes lots of courage, patience, flexibility and intelligence.  Isn't that the ultimate wisdom?

Andy Ng wrote this article out of wisdom, and he often passes them on in his short but effective courses. Related articles:

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