Wisdom is something that I wish I had whenever I was younger in life. I’m not that old – I am only 33 years old, but if I had wisdom from my teenage years, I could have avoided making a lot of costly mistakes. I wrecked and ruined my mental health and to this day, I am suffering from a severe mental illness. Even though I am recovering and in remission, it could have been totally avoided.
That is the value of wisdom.
Having wisdom means having sound judgement and making the correct decisions. Wise decisions. Which will improve your life not make it worse. Many lives have been ruined all because of one poor decision – and many more from consistently poor choices in life. What is the greatest source of wisdom? The Bible. And in particular, Proverbs.
It was last year that I finally began to seek wisdom, and after 10 years of darkness, my life is finally improving. You see, without wisdom, you will inevitably ruin your life. You will waste your money, you will waste your time, and you will destroy your health. The most important things in life are health, wealth, and relationships. And in my opinion, in that order. Nothing can replace good health.
Good health is something that most people take for granted. But once you lose it, you would give anything to get it back. Fortunately I am forcing my health to improve, mainly by having the discipline to exercise despite taking antipsychotic medication. Over the past 5 months I have been to the gym consistently, stopped my injections, and switched to tablet medication. Over time, I have gradually felt better and better.
The worst decision I ever made was probably going to university. That introduced me to the drug culture and as a result, I was addicted to smoking weed. I inevitably had a mental breakdown less than two years later, and was put on a horrible antipsychotic called olanzapine. And ever since, my mental health has deteriorated to the point that in 2024 I couldn’t even get out of bed in the morning. I literally could not function; but prayer saved me from that situation.
Wisdom, mainly found in the Bible and in the writings of the Stoics and various philosophers, is extremely valuable. It enables you to live a happy, and safe life. Free from troubles and worries and fears. It is said that wisdom is more valuable than gold and silver, and it took me a while to see this. Money comes and goes, but having the wisdom to make the wisest choices in life is invaluable.
The sooner you learn to love wisdom the better, and even philosophy means “love of wisdom.” Incidentally I studied Philosophy at university, but I barely attended my classes and laughed in a self-depreciating manner whenever I told people that I studied it. I didn’t think philosophy was useful and like most people, thought it was a waste of time. However, it is said that without making time for philosophy, one does not even truly live.
Ever since last year I have been studying Stoic philosophy, which emphasises wisdom as being the highest ideal to aspire to, similar to the stoic sage. So why is wisdom valuable?
- Wisdom involves making the correct choices in life.
- Wisdom will enable you to protect yourself from people who seek to harm you.
- Wisdom will enable you to live your life in safety.
- Wisdom will prevent you from living a life full of regret.
- Wisdom will help you to see what is truly important in life.
- Wisdom will teach you how to live and face adversity.
- Wisdom will essentially prevent you from screwing your life up.
As far as wisdom is concerned, I am still a beginner but looking back on my life, I lived like such a fool in my twenties, worsened my mental health, and damaged my reputation. Now I feel shame over the things that I’ve done, but I’ve tried my best to accept that I cannot change the past, but I can influence the future, and the present moment. And that’s really all we have.
So, especially if you are young, and you are reading this, seek wisdom. Because God knows, you need it. Everyone needs wisdom as early in their life as possible. Wisdom will enable you to live a happy life. Perhaps a wealthy one. And a successful one. It will teach you what kinds of people to avoid, and which to embrace. Wisdom will enable you to live a virtuous and rewarding time on this planet, and will probably help you with the most wisest decision of them all…
Repenting and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless,
-Aaron
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