The humility of wisdom!

Knowledge is proud that he has learn'd so much;

Wisdom is humble that he knows no more. 

-WILLIAM COWPER, The Task 

By Sarah Mahmood

Wisdom defines the ability to learn more and to apply it silently without any further ado (my definition). As Hermann Hesse puts it: "Wisdom is not communicable. The wisdom which a wise man tries to communicate always sounds foolish... Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it."


With empty vessels making the most noise (don't think I take my own noise 'for granted'), wisdom but finds refuge in one's ankles (rough translation of an Urdu idiom). The rational thinking process may be in action, words may come tumbling out, but where is the result that one so fervently desires? Alas, it falls victim to a lack of wisdom!

Dear friends, Pensive today is an attempt to revive our long-forgotten wisdoms (and to create those that never existed before), an attempt to instill in us the passion to learn more and the humility to realize the insignificance of the knowledge that we have attained so far in the vast treasures of learning that God has bestowed upon us.