Good morning Gregg,

Thanks again for sharing our blog posts!

I understand the distinctions you're making and the wider range of wisdom models you're drawing on. Indeed, the sage (and the indigenous shaman you mention) are archetypal examples of wisdom holders.

But in posing an implicit "you thought wisdom was this, but it's really that" framing, Brooks is leaning on the conventions of persuasive exposition within an op-ed within a limited amount of print newspaper space.

As a fellow journalist and essayist, I'm very familiar with such conventions and boundary conditions. I can feel his pain! 😉

So he's trying to expand the definition and connotation of wisdom from a "wise man who speaks profound propositional knowledge" to a person with graceful second-person skills who can help others feel valued and thereby be open to growth and change from within their own sphere of reference and agency.

Obviously you get this point; you mentioned the therapeutic setting with patients as exemplifying this very dynamic.

But to use an epistemological context we're both very familiar with, in Vervaeke terms this approach uses procedural skillful means via intersubjective rapport and support/challenge leading to perspectival expansion and shifts. Then as an agent in the social and cultural arena, the person supported and challenged can engage in participatory knowing, hopefully a co-creative collective intelligence beyond solo monads and interpersonal dyads.

Also within Brooks' journalistic frame of reference is his elevation of the editor as an exemplar of wisdom. This is a very significant archetypal extension and elaboration. Analogous to the role of coaches in sports and business, the role and function of editors is to bring out your best and to help you grow into the same.

I've worked with mediocre editors and with masters of that craft such as the Village Voice rock critic Bob Christgau. OMG, to be a young writer in the hands of a master editor is bliss.

For me, that was wisdom-in-action.

So I don't think Brooks would disagree with you, Gregg. I think he'd agree that it's both/and rather than either-or.

And as that form of wisdom is more aligned with what's called soft skills (as it's in the domain of the feminine), I think we should give it even more exposure now than the sage/shaman per se, traditionally male archetypes.

That form of wisdom hasn't prevented or led us out of the meta-crisis. The relational form of wisdom just might.

Best,

Greg

On Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 6:16 AM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hi Folks,

A central focus of the UTOK Garden philosophy is how to turn knowledge into wisdom. I saw this op ed piece from David Brooks and had mixed reactions:

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/opinion/wisdom-attention-listening.html

My basic reaction was that Brooks is writing about what might be called “relational wisdom”. Indeed, much of what he describes here represents the way I try to teach people to position themselves in the psychotherapy room. Namely, you want to hear someone’s story with deep attention, honor it, and reflect on aspects of it such that they might digest a new perspective and find pathways for growth. This is, indeed, a key part of wisdom and something that we should all seek to cultivate in ourselves to the extent possible.

However, from my knowledge-into-wisdom vantage point, the analysis misses the wisdom of the sage/shaman. The capacity for esoteric analysis that allow one to see through the fog of conventional understanding and elucidate patterns that escape the masses and point to new ways of being. The knowledge-into-wisdom of Einstein’s vision of the cosmos, for example. Or the classic Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Bottom line is that wisdom is, of course, many things. But Brooks article sparked in me the difference between wise relating and wise seeing. It was an interesting connection precisely because the central bridge that the UTOK forms is between wise relating in the therapy room and wise knowledge that frames and guides it.

Best,
Gregg

___________________________________________

Gregg Henriques, Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Graduate Psychology
216 Johnston Hall
MSC 7401
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
(540) 568-7857 (phone)
(540) 568-4747 (fax)

Be that which enhances dignity and well-being with integrity.

Check out the Unified Theory Of Knowledge homepage at:

https://www.unifiedtheoryofknowledge.org/

############################
To unsubscribe from the TOK-SOCIETY-L list: write to: mailto:[log in to unmask] or click the following link: http://listserv.jmu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=TOK-SOCIETY-L&A=1