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Wisdom of Means and Wisdom of Ends

3/3/2011

3 Comments

 
Picture
Janus, god of beginnings and endings

For weak people there is nothing beyond obtaining what they want. Those who can do things must consider what to want.



How disappointing to discover that you won a defeat!


There are accordingly two Janus-faces of Wisdom:
One is the wisdom of means. This instrument helps to achieve with prudence your short and long-term purposes; it helps you to get what you want and to keep away from what you do not want.
The second is the wisdom of ends. It looks at the choices of lives worth living. By it you decide what has value and what is right, worth spending your life to do, to obtain or to be.
The two are quite different but often confused; some believe that if you behave and judge wisely you will obtain a wise life, certainly a good one. Others dream that a worthy vision of life, well understood, will make you wise in your deeds. Not so! If you don’t understand this distinction you may be successful, at great effort, even for a long time, at the price of spending many days of your life, just to find out late that you wanted the wrong thing. Or, you may behold the true recipe of admirable life and still live a poor one, marred by clumsiness and imprudence.
3 Comments
Daniel Tenner link
3/3/2011 04:31:15 am

Well, actually, I think a wisdom is missing from this system.

Wisdom of means is the wisdom for the now: how to do what you are trying to do wisely, so that right now you do better.

Wisdom of ends is the wisdom for tomorrow: how to choose the things you do wisely, so that later you will do better.

It seems to me there should also be a wisdom of yesterday: how to think about the past wisely, so that.. your past is better?

If you do everything wisely today, towards wise ends, you might still end up bitter if you do not know how to look wisely at the past, isn't it?

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Ioan Tenner link
3/3/2011 04:45:17 am

Like this one. Let's add, as a wisdom for yesterday, the habit of learning from what happened, good or bad and also a way to develop your ability to make peace with what was instead of nourishing bitterness.

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Daniel Tenner link
3/3/2011 06:29:06 pm

Upon further thought, I would add that the wisdom of yesterday is perhaps the most important of all to achieve some level of contentment.

You might be the wisest at doing things and at picking what you do, but there will still be "one more thing" that you could have done. If you don't know how to make peace with the past, then nothing you can do in the present or the future can make you lastingly happy.

Conversely, it is possible to be content with very little. Is this wise? I don't know.

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