the banality of wisdom

Nerida sent out a link to this. I'm still processing it but I kinda feel ambiguous when I saw the trailer. We have a lot of famous people, most of whom are quite old. They mostly say sensible stuff. And sometimes they say it in quite a charming or poignant way.

But it's rarely stuff that you haven't heard before. But that's the thing about wisdom. Most of it is not new (that doesn't make it easy do). So we are left with people who have done wise and unwise things and who may (or may not) be wise in some respects. But whilst I'm sure they can entertain, I'm not sure that they can enlighten. We can enjoy the cinematography and nod sagely but are we any the wiser?

a word to the wise

Patrick Lambe gets stuck into Wisdom Management. One sentence sticks in my mind: Wisdom management cannot but focus on the knowledge and ability of privileged individuals.

Some observations:

• James Surowiecki would probably disagree with this.
• There is a demographic driver here. The baby boomer generation is just about to retire. Forty years ago many of them sought enlightenment & nirvana. And now they hit their sixties, they want wisdom. I'm not sure it works that way. Nor am I sure that all of them lack it.
• Decision-making & mindfulness are two closely related things that most of us I struggle with.
• Those pushing wisdom-enhancing courses are probably some of the least-equipped to do so.

I like the notion of wisdom but I'm not sure I like the notion of having it sold to me.