Need for Wisdom

The Information Age is bringing a lot of information and knowledge to us, some of which is beginning to overwhelm us. However, as human beings, the need to distill the essence from a lot of inputs is not new. All around us, there is a continuous dance of events and activities - physical, chemical, astronomical - which give our senses a lot of stimulus. Without our ability to recognize patterns, these stimuli would be noise. In reality, our senses and mind have evolved to recognize patterns. We are able to organize and distill sensory data -- smell, sight, sound, etc. -- from the noise. But this process of recognition, organization and distillation does not stop there.

Organized data becomes information. Organized information becomes knowledge. Organized knowledge becomes wisdom. In the Information Age, we need to absorb wisdom instead of trying to soak in a flood of information and knowledge.