By: Jason (aka AGoreanRPer)

After sitting back and reading thru a few articles published on ethics in education, I came across a line from Plato's the Phaedo where he was quoting Socrates.

"A man should feel confident in his soul...[when he] has pursued the pleasures that go with learning and made the soul fine with...its own proper refinements, moderation and justice and courage and freedom and truth..."

- Pg. 114

After reading that I continued on thru the article then sort of came to an abrubt halt as it sank in a bit deeper into my mind. I flipped back to the lines again and reread it. Then it was like a light sort of flashed thru my head. This was the core of being and wisdom. Learning is both active and passive. One has to use and learn thru doing, to actually put what one learns to use in order to make it part of them and their own. Knowledge that one doesn't make use of or bother to apply it to one's own life thru reflection.

"Knowledge can be communicated but not wisdom."

- Herman Hesse

"All learning has an emotional base."

- Plato

Reflection plays a critical role in making knowledge more than a string of facts or bits of trivia to be parrotted back. To turn knowledge into wisdom one must take the time to grasp opportunities which arise in life to apply what has been learned to practical and various experiences. Many people seem to equate having experienced many things as having wisdom but that falls slightly short of true wisdom because neither age nor experience would guarantee wisdom, rather that overlooks the singularly most important part of the process, self reflection.

Reflection is something we all have to make a decision on at some time or another. One of those choices can be to ignore that step or ignorance, another choice can be that the experience and what one learned were good or in line with one's beliefs and one can then apply them to one's life thereby making it one's own, or lastly one can decide that the experience and what one learned are contrary to one's beliefs or find them wrong in some way and reject the ideas from being applied to one's life but the wisedom is still gained and part of one because one has applied the knowledge to life experienced. One learns far more about oneself by studying those that disagree or live differently than one does studying those that agree with one's own beliefs.

"To stand still on the summit of reflection is difficult, and in the natural course of things, who cannot go forward steps back."

- Gaius Velleius Paterculus (20 BC to 30 AD)

Wisdom is not something that can be used judgmentally. Wisdom is a compassionate personal understanding of one's self and the society around ourselves. It allows one not to just see the past and the present but allows one to look forward at potential possibilities and chart our own course thru life. Wisdom is the patience to wait for each individual around us to recognize the power within himself because wisdom is timeless and boundless. No one lacks the ability to achieve it. Each of us has within us the ability to understand and to learn from our actions. Each of us has a responsibility to do so. This is where what Socrates calls confidence in one's own soul becomes so apparantly obvious. It is a state where one has taken all of one's experiences, all of one's knowledge, and put them together to form a core confidence and set of ideals that define oneself.

- Jason
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