ABSTRACT
This concluding chapter will attempt to describe the full character of wisdom by arguing for some very particular virtues as being uniquely core to that wisdom. Whilst wisdom has been and is argued for as a collection of finely balanced virtues which constantly wrestle with the shifting and impossibly doomed demands of life, it is just this doomed character, combined with a necessary joy and love, which lead us to its final shape. Traditions of finding completeness in incompleteness, particularly in some Japanese concepts of brokenness, will help to describe an attitude of poignancy and good humour which is peculiarly important to wisdom. Life is wonderful and dreadful, it should make us laugh and cry, and by learning why this is so, and how to hold these seemingly contradictory reactions in tandem, and act on their basis, we can learn to live with wisdom.
