“A old friend of mine liked to talk about “bought” lessons being best–meaning the mistakes you have to pay for. Otherwise, we tend not to learn the lesson, unless we are wise. And not many of us are truly wise.”
And where else does he think that wisdom comes from than not the school of hard knocks - ie, personal (and painfull experiences.
Wisdom is not some magical thing handed out from up above, rather it is a set of rules for living learned through often painful experiences over the milleniums of human existence, which if followed result in an overall happier life in the long term.
Most of us tend to not follow them because “things are different now” and those rules are just for old fogies - until we personally learn the rules ourselves.
“...Wisdom is not some magical thing handed out from up above, rather it is a set of rules for living learned through often painful experiences over the milleniums of human existence, which if followed result in an overall happier life in the long term....”
I have to disagree with this. Yes, most of us do have to get knocked upside the head to learn, but true wisdom IS some “magical thing handed out from above.” If we were to listen to our conscience, we would not need hard knocks.