“The man is wisest who realizes that his wisdom is worthless.”
-Plato
How can wisdom be worthless?
Perception is Key here… what is wisdom to you might not be wisdom at all to another.
Is there such a thing as wisdom?
Is it worthless because we will never truly KNOW?
Is worthless a negative aspect? Rather something you might actually want to obtain?
This is just a short example of why I call myself –> Truth Seeker.
& Yes; I do realize that my journey might not ever end..
But that is the Beauty of it all.
Thoughts?
-Truth Seeker
Photo Credit to http://www.people.southwestern.edu
Political Joint 
There cannot truly be such a thing as a lack of worth because of its subjective nature; in the same way that wisdom is subjective and questionable in its existence, so too does the value of “worth” become questionable. Wisdom – and thus worth – for one person, is not perhaps what it is for another. And so on in a never-ending circle. But is wisdom the same as knowledge, then? As Cicero famously says, “Knowledge which is divorced from justice, may be called cunning rather than wisdom.” What then do we say is cunning rather than wise, any more than what is knowledge rather than wisdom – and coming full circle, then how do we judge something’s worth? By the knowledge, or wisdom? And is there such thing as worth even if we consider those variables?
Your journey indeed may never end because philosophy is the world’s most efficient hydra; for every question that is tackled and brought forth, another multitude is unleashed. And indeed, that is very beautiful.
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WOW! Thank you for such an insightful comment! I greatly appreciate hearing your thoughts on such a diverse topic! I had never heard the quote you provided by “Cicero” and it truly spoke to me and made things a bit clearer… Drawing conclusions between wisdom and knowledge is a great idea. Glad we can agree that philosophy is an endless beautiful journey friend!
-Truth Seeker
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Not a problem, I enjoy the discussion! Philosophy is indeed endless but forever relevant, so blogs such as yours are important in unravelling it for the modern age so keep it up!
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I think the underlying concept here is ‘value’: what value is placed on wisdom? And what metric do we measure value by? Of course, the answer is that it’s varied – value is what is appropriate to oneself (and whether one needs philosophical consolation, to be given direction in life, or monetary gain). We measure it by what we need – academic success, simple kudos, $, political usefulness, and so on. That’s why the investment in wisdom these days seems to go into curing people, killing people or extracting cash from them.
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You make very valid points and I enjoy how you speak of value. It is true that value does vary from person to person… And as far as measuring value… We would all have to agree on a set standard on the good and the bad. Which seems almost impossible to do…. I like how you relate value to what is necessary .. This is an interesting point and would make for a good blog post. Thanks for your reply and thank you for taking the time to comment on my blog.
-Truth Seeker
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Ingenious comment indeed.
Wisdom is in the way we value our experiences.
Wisdom is personal.
How do you value your experiences? Well, this depends on philosophical (intellectual) acuity. A might see B bowing to a statue in the name of worshiping and A gets used to seeing this, now C sees B doing same and C is like, “This is not right.” C has valued his experience of seeing B bowing to a statue differently from A. We might like to think C is more philosophical than A.
Another example; A is born into this world same time as B. Now A starts asking questions like, “Why am I here, what is here, who made God, who made God’s God etc?” And B lives on without asking these question and just following the rules. A and B have valued the experience of life differently, but we’d like to think A is more philosophical, hence, wiser.
Wisdom is in the way we value personal experiences.
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Great comment… It reminds me of a logic course I once took!
I have to completely agree!
-Truth Seeker
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I began to realize that I was beginning on the path to wisdom when I came to understand how little I knew.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!
-Truth Seeker
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Indeed. The more you think you know, the less wiser you become.
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Thanks for this. I think this awareness, that the value of one’s wisdom is subjective, is a useful thing to have.
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Glad we can agree! Thank you for taking the time to read and comment my blog. I hope you will find all of my posts intriguing and useful!!
-Truth Seeker
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To live a life in gratitude would cause one to value everything from the wonderful things that happen to the unpleasant occurrences. For everything that happens provides a lesson. And so every life, every moment has value.
For me personally, I would say that knowledge comes from intelligence, study, observation and such. But wisdom must include humility, courage, gratitude, surrender and compassion.
Your personal journey in reaching wisdom will never end for I believe that is the reason for being, in this life and in ones before and after, wherever they may take you.
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Great points! I like how you relate knowledge with study and observation.. As well as wisdom with courage and compassion. Thank you for taking the time to read my post!
-Truth Seeker
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An insightful comment. Thank you.
Socrates seems to have been wise, and since Plato wrote of him, I guess Plato was wise too.
Is wisdom worthless? I think the lady offered a good answer. Here is something similar.
If we don’t believe in God, the mere sight of the stars, the complexity of our world, the sheer wonder of things we see every day should humble us, but some how it doesn’t.
Given the wisdom — the lack of humility — we have been exercising here of late, I suppose we all need to read the Bible more, but it is not as popular these days as it once was. What is funny is that nobody reads the Bible, but everyone still think they know what is in it. Does that include you? I don’t know, but it once did me.
If you have not read Proverbs, I think you will find it interesting. Much of the Bible is wisdom literature. With some good commentaries, I have enjoyed it, and I suspect you will too.
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Some would make fun of you for quoting the Bible, saying that it’s just a book filled with fundamental contradictions and Chinese whispers (think the game of Telephone); however, I wonder how many of those people have actually taken the time to read this book that they are so quick to discredit. There’s enough evidence out there for the Bible’s legitimacy, but if one is closed to that evidence, it will only seem as foolishness and conspiracy.
Your comment is a potential springboard for all kinds of conversations that are interconnected. Thank you for standing up for the Bible.
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Well I guess an end to this journey isn’t the sense of our existence. Or in other words an (temporal) end to this journey is death…
I once had the realization that a process fades like smoke in the wind, as soon as it has reached perfection, if we don’t take the fruits and turn them into seeds.
Much Love
Fillandra
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Comment coming soon …
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I look forward to it! I have not found the time to sit and be able to unload these thoughts in my head… NEW POST coming soon…
-Truth Seeker
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Aspiring to wisdom is a worthwhile way to idle away the ticking of our body clocks … our worth is the positive effects we have on other mortals’ quality of existential experience and awareness 😉
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All truth is subjective. Ultimately everything is worthless. But what we have is the moment. The moment for us and the moment for the planet and the moment for the universe. Life to me is about enjoying, understanding, creating and dealing with suffering so that the moment of us, the world and universe is the best it can be. That’s worth striving for. It gives purpose. Hey – I’m enjoying myself – Opher
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The moment is truly all we can live for. I think societies downfall is that we have too good of a memory; Which we tend to dwell on past issues and it usually results in not letting us enjoy the “now”.
Sometimes I too struggle with being able to enjoy the now.. But writing makes me feel good!
I feel like it is easier to enjoy and be happy for yourself though rather than the world and the universe.. Partly because as society we are so torn apart. And as for the universe; it is pretty much a mystery!
Thanks for the comment friend!
-Truth Seeker
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If all truth is subjective as you say, then would you agree that the statement “all truth is subjective” is subjective? If so, then how can you be confident in stating that all truth is subjective?
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“For the Scriptures say, ‘As surely as I live,’ says the LORD, ‘every knee will bend to me, and every tongue will confess and give praise to God.'” (Romans 14:11)
“…at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)
According to the Bible, one day everyone will know the truth, whether they like what they realize or not. We have more to live for than simply the moment, for one day we will all go to one of two places for eternity – Heaven or Hell. The good news is, we have been given the choice. A relationship with Christ is our ticket to Heaven and is possible if we want it. All people are of infinite value in the eyes of God, for He made us in His image and sent His Son Jesus to die for the sins of mankind. Even though we are broken, sinful people, God considered us to be worth dying for because He loved us so much! This is beautiful wisdom, and it’s available to anyone who desires it.
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The beauty I see in being worthless is that you have nothing to lose. Start fresh. Go and see. No more fears.
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Speaking personally, I think what Plato was alluding to here was a form of nihilism. To borrow from a previous comment, A and B and C can think what they want of each other and themselves; eventually they will all die and the universe will not even notice. Some find this line of thought negative, that it negates everything we do. I tend to look at is as being liberating. Take your shot, risk it all, lay it all on the line, in the end it doesn’t matter. So say your piece and be at peace. This is kinda’ how I see blogging on what some would call a doomed planet. I’m not so pessimistic, but does it matter that a message is not heard? No! What matters is that it be said.
We go on about the purpose of progress… to what ends? What are the goals we as a society are striving for? Having jobs? Is that it? Maybe sit on a beach for a few years near the end, and die in a hospital bed riddled with disease because we’ve overstayed our welcome here. When the universe goes cold, what then? Even if we have colonized other worlds, what then? Jobs elsewhere?
Love is both the question and the answer. We must act as our nature will have us act, and do what we will, because to do otherwise would be unreal. We need to discover who we are in order to transcend the limits we place on ourselves. Engage by letting go. Give up by diving deeper. Abandon ourselves to ourselves and laugh and laugh and laugh.
I think this is what he meant. We don’t laugh enough. Yeah, that MUST be it. That’s all he’s ever said… LAUGH MORE because there is nothing better than love and laughter is its deepest expression.
…….heh…..heheheh……hehehehehahaha……………Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah………AAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA…cough…cough……cough.
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“The man is wisest who realizes that his wisdom is worthless.”
Yes, if his ‘wisdom’ is knowledge stemming from the past, he can be stuck with that, unable to perceive, understand or to create anything new.
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The idea seems to be simply put forth to provoke thought, to confuse and humor the reader. It doesn’t make sense until meaning is extrapolated out of it. How can you be wise if wisdom is worthless? Can you have wisdom without being wise?
It is seems to me that wisdom is worthless because to have Wisdom would mean that you think that you know. But once you know, than there is no more reason to know. And as we all know, there is always something more to know. I think this is what you mean by the Truth Seeker. The perpetual process of realization.
What is the point of finding truth or wisdom when finding it ends the chase for it. The fun of philosophy is in the adventure of it all. The state of not knowing breads excitement for knowing. And this chase for knowledge is what is important. Indeed knowledge has importance, but there is no accurate way to gauge the value of knowledge, so we continue along our Path for Wisdom.
The one who knows wisdom is worthless, gains a higher order of Wisdom, because they have realized that no idea will be as valuable as their humble state of seeking for truth.
Nobody really knows, tis a mystery and thats what is fun! In the end, none of it matters because the cycles of life continue, we die, earth days, and maybe the Universe will die as well? So while we are hear we might as well make it fun, interesting, meaningful, whatever, again, does it really matter?
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Thank you for taking the time to read my works… I have to agree with you on multiple points. I don’t, however, believe that the universe will end..
Humanity will one day.. But that is why we can just place our wisdom out there in hopes to enlighten the living; while we can!
-Truth Seeker
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