wisdom over knowledge

Knowledge is everywhere—literally everywhere.

At the click of a mouse, we can find information about everything. We are in an information overload and it’s giving us a lingering hangover.  

But wisdom?  Wisdom is quite a bit richer at its core and something we are “wise” to pay attention to more regularly.  

One definition of wisdom is  “the soundness of an action or decision with regard to the application of experience, knowledge, and good judgment.”

So in this regard, knowledge is an ingredient of wisdom. Wisdom involves experience—an understanding that includes both body and mind. Insight gained from how our individual system interacts with the immediate systems around us, spreading outward to include family, work, community, the country and the world. Wisdom is fluid.

I found a fascinating documentary about this that really resonated with me. If you’re interested in the connection of all things, I hope you’ll check out InnSæi – the Power of Intuition on Netflix.

Here’s a brief description from the film’s website:

“The ancient Icelandic word for intuition is “innsæi,” but in Iceland it has multiple meanings. It can mean “the sea within” which is the borderless nature of our inner world, a constantly moving world of vision, feelings and imagination beyond words. It can mean “to see within” which means to know yourself, and to know yourself well enough to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes. And it can mean, “to see from the inside out” which is to have a strong inner compass to navigate your way in our ever-changing world.”   Click here to watch the trailer.

If you watch the film, let me know where your insight led you. What wisdom did you discover within yourself that you hadn’t noticed before? What stuck with you after the film?  

Science is catching up and supporting these intuitive hunches/understandings left and right these days. The Atlantic recently published an article that I found fascinating.

Researchers recently determined that horses are not only quite able to read our facial expressions, but they also understood the meaning of the expressions. 

“A University of Sussex research team, led by Amy Smith alongside the veteran animal-behavior scientist Karen McComb, showed a group of 28 horses large photographs of man’s face making either a positive (smiling) or negative (angry, brows furrowed) emotional expression. The results showed that horses were able to automatically distinguish between the two expressions, and what they meant.”  

Horse people have long believed this and modern research now supports it.  

I’d encourage you to test out your own “wisdom” as you move through your day. What are you seeing “from the inside out” very clearly? Moreover, what is that wisdom steering you toward?    

Insight, on location, here.