This is the last book suggested by my psyc professor, and my paper on it:
In Harold Bullock’s Sharper Strokes, he implements the way in which wisdom is obtained, how to gain it, and what it means to be wise. There are many benefits for attaining wisdom such as the profit of favor in God’s eyes, protection from bad decisions, a life of prosperity, the strength to deal with people and certain circumstances. Along with the benefits of attaining wisdom, come the detriments that do nothing less than damage one’s being and life. Failing to gain wisdom in one’s life only leads to death and destruction; one who does not seek wisdom, merely seeks pain and ultimate termination. In the realm of wisdom, there are two teams: pain and prosperity. Everyone who exists takes part in this realm. Those who seek out wisdom, find it, cherish it, and live by it, are those who are on the side of prosperity. The people who hate wisdom, disregard it, deny it, and rely on their own “wisdom” are on a sure path to pain which results in fatality.
What True Wisdom Looks Like
All actions are produced from motives; a drive was imbedded in human beings’ desires from the moment of birth. This force determines the decisions people make. The result will lead to good or bad, wise or foolish decision making. The motivation is determined by goals andgetting what one wants. People will do everything possible to achieve what they desire, if they want it bad enough. People do the things they do out of a motivation or purpose to succeed. The majority of people do not set out to fail, though that statement may not always be accurate. But those deeply yearn to succeed will succeed. In order to accomplish a goal, one must acquire the internal drive and the motives to do so. This requires a well-drawn out action plan; requiring a determination to succeed rather than fail. However, there are uncertainties that will be encountered in life; uncertainties which are not able to be prevented. Bullock addresses this scenario of occurring accidents saying, “Accidents and intervening circumstances potentially could rob us of success that we have worked hard to achieve. For that reason, some people refuse to act until the circumstances are exactly right to ensure success. They don’t want to waste effort and then fail. By refusing to start, they guarantee failure.” There is a strong need to stay on track and not let uncertainty of the future get in the way of potential success.
. Since decision making is inevitable in life, it is crucial to make certain the wisest path to travel. In order to make the best decision, one must havewisdom. One must also explore how a decision is deciphered; making sure each decision is thoroughly dissected and the result is completely meditated. How a person works out a decision plays an important role in the motives behind the actions. Analyzing the options of a certain situation may also be viewed as a judgment call. The order in which one precedes decisions is a result of whether they are wise or foolish.
A person should keep in mind, with decision making, the need to weigh the possible consequences. This would include achieving wisdom in waiting for the opportune moment to act on a right decision so that the decision leads to success, avoiding failure or further danger. Another concept a person must grasp is the understanding that their decisions are greatly impacted by the knowledge that they have of the ways of life and how it operates. In order to obtain this knowledge, one must have a foundation for life. When the bible no longer becomes a part of in one’s everyday existence, absolutely everything goes askew. The reason for this happening is merely because humans were not born with the knowledge to live life with true meaning; rather, true meaning had to be learned from living and deciding for one’s self.
As far as true and perfect meaning for life goes, there is no greater meaning than God. When one does not live for God, there is no meaning at all. This ultimately leads to no way of gaining true wisdom. Also, bad decision making occurs without the guidance of God. Without that wise guidance, one will find themselves drowning in a sea of failed relationships, pain and sorrow, and a sense of meaninglessness and depression. Many people turn to medications in an attempt to reverse depression, which only deepens the pain. Without God, people turn to anything to try and fill the empty void in their lives, failing every single time. What Bullock said about wise decision making could be no more true, “the way we answer the question “What is the best course of action to take in this situation?” does depend on our goals, the factors we discern in the situation, our understanding of them, and our ability (or lack of ability) to make a good judgment call. But, it also depends on what we think it the nature of “ultimate reality”.”
The ultimate reality is everything that people experience. Everyone is living for something since there are motives behind every action. Depending on what one is living for, gives them their meaning for life; whether its gods or God, people live to accomplish, or be accomplished by something. However, for those who claim they live for God, it is wise to live out God’s law, along with perceiving it to be true. Living for God and God’s purpose, under His law, Bullock says, “Will be a factor in shaping the consequences that come to us as we make our decisions about how we handle daily life.”
Wisdom requires more than just knowledge. All people, whether they have a lasting relationship with God or not, can attain knowledge. The only requirement for accomplishing knowledge is through education. Bullock states this “knowledge” simply as “collected information.” This is different from wisdom in the sense that wisdom does not merely gather information, but takes the information and applies it to everyday situations. Learning wisdom does not always come from experience, but sometimes it is a result from learning from a wise person’s experience.
Those who do not live for God are walking in the foolishness and darkness, while those who do live for God live in wisdom and the light. Living in darkness requires a person to deny God and His law, and live for themselves; by themselves. They have no ruler or god but their own being. Humans were not meant to live this way, but they were meant to live for a higher purpose than themselves and the world. To live in darkness, also means to live for the world; by the world’s standards, rather than God’s. On the contrary, those who live for God, in the light, live by God’s laws and standards, and are susceptible to gaining wisdom through a relationship with God. To know and love God is to know and love wisdom, and to deny God is to deny wisdom and accept foolishness. Bullock said about the light and darkness concept was this, “It is not just where we are in life that determines our ability to see spiritually, but which direction we are walking, toward the light or toward the darkness.” His statement could not have been better said, for it is true that the farther one strays from light, the darker the atmosphere becomes.
The only true wisdom there is comes from God. This is easily found in the bible, which first requires fearing the Lord. The barrier that lies between the human desires for godly wisdom is our predisposition that all are inbred with the desire to be self-sufficient, which started from Adam and Eve in the beginning. But along with God’s wisdom, comes others such as traditional wisdom. This is wisdom that was documented by “wise” men and passed along from generation to generation. Another kind of wisdom the world has formed is reason. Reason takes happenings and events on life and mixes it with logical reasons, or explanations of why it happened. Along with reason comes occult wisdom which is supernatural “wisdom” caused by misinterpreted demonic experiences; often times a result to mania. Within the last couple of hundred years, scientists have been theorizing that there is no God, then proving themselves wrong. They have found that without the existence of a god or higher being, life remains meaningless because they have no one to live for. With a meaningless life comes the result of no morals and no values. If one claimed to not live under God, then what would be considered their morals and values? They would be considered their own god, if they claim to have their own morals and values of life.
My conclusion is merely, you cannot attain wisdom without God, and you cannot have God without wisdom.
More to come,
-R
