ABSTRACT
This chapter explores knowledge, experience, and age as foundation study to better understand how we build wisdom throughout a lifetime. The roles of knowledge, experience, adversity, and growth are interconnected to an extent that it’s very hard to discuss one of these terms without referring to the other. Yet, each is an independent construct, and it’s important to understand their role in fostering wisdom. Wisdom begins with wise individual choices that are often guided by our parents and guardians. Humans have collectively adopted archetypes of the old “wise” in our cinema, stories, and fairy tales to describe wisdom and provide a mirror through which we can pattern our behaviors. Research has shown there is little correlation between chronological age and wisdom. We cannot teach or be taught to be wise. However, wisdom can be fostered.
