Where does wisdom lie?

Is it in knowing everything in the world enough to see the general patterns? Like all types of human character, how each will act under different circumstances, how one should treat a particular type of person etc. Until very recently I used to think this is where wisdom lied. We live, experience, read, listen, share: all so that we collect information which we then classify and categorise and then call up when we need to know how to analyse what we see and hear and how to behave in different circumstances.

I am beginning to think this is not the case…and that perhaps wisdom lies in not resorting to generalisation? After all generalisations are nothing but the product of our own analysis so they can only be as good as what we are exposed to and our ability to analyse them.

Yes, perhaps, wisdom lies in having the openness to take every event and every person as they come and in having the strength to deal with the outcome if it doesn’t fit with the generalisations.

Or, perhaps, wisdom lies in not pontificating without knowing what one is talking about! Well, at least it’s off my chest…