Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
4th March 2016
Evolution of Wisdom
“A mystery”
Life has evolved and the beginning of this evolvement cannot be determined with any certainty. The evolution of life is continuous, and the ageing process is evidence that the evolution of life is continuous, spontaneous, uncontrollable and unpredictable.
This understanding has important implications. The most important is that intellect and the evolvement of its inherent characteristic ‘understanding’ is continuous, spontaneous, uncontrollable and unpredictable. Man has no control over it, because man does not control evolution. Man is present because of evolution.
The evolution of the intensity and speed of the process of intellect and its inherent characteristic ‘understanding’ is however varied and not the same for all humans.
The evolution, nevertheless, either leads to knowledge or to wisdom.
It is obvious that knowledge evolved in primitive man and later wisdom evolved in the human mind. This phenomenon indicates that evolution of superficial understanding leads to knowledge, and evolution of deep understanding of knowledge leads to wisdom.
What could be the basic characteristic of knowledge that needs to evolve to reveal wisdom is the question? It is obvious that the basic characteristic of knowledge is duality meaning opposites and the understanding of duality or opposites needs to evolve.
Now, what could duality or opposites mean? Opposites provide a meaning to a word. The word by itself is devoid of any meaning without the presence of its opposite, for example: ‘good’ is known because of its opposite ‘bad’, otherwise what ‘good’ is could never be known.
The opposite is a word as well, which gets its meaning from the word it gives meaning to, which is nevertheless without a meaning by itself. Therefore, since opposites are in everyday life, it only means that the quantum nature of meanings is a word with its opposite in the same moment.
This implies that the meaning, which you do not want, is also present in the meaning that you do want, for example right or wrong. However, to knowledge duality or opposites is separate and not present together.
As intellect and its inherent characteristic ‘understanding’ evolve, this mysterious phenomenon of the opposites (duality) will be deeply understood. Therefore, wisdom evolves as deep understanding of knowledge with regards to duality or opposites evolves. This further implies that man can neither get knowledge nor wisdom, both evolve in man and man does not make evolution.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V.S. Shankar 2016
Editor’s Note:
The clarity of understanding expressed in this document is a gift for those who seek understanding of life and its care present in the minutest detail. Man has relied on knowledge and its attributes as he journeys through life. Its acquirer commands respect and is rewarded with a place in society. He or she will often go to extraordinary lengths to increase and improve his or her portfolio of what is known, particularly in comparison with his or her fellows. Wisdom, however, has a mysterious face, seen by only a few.
Julian Capper UK