Wisdom Must Be Extracted.

Classically, we’ve all been trained to believe that the path to Wisdom is a combination of Knowledge plus Experience (W = K + E). However, when really analyzing this model, there comes a point where you realize that the equation is dangerously incomplete.

If we continue to pair only Knowledge with Experience, we run the risk of building false Wisdom or illusory understanding.

Let’s take UFOs as an example:
K: I read about how UFOs exist (Knowledge)
E: I see strange lights in the sky I cannot explain (Experience)
W: my new Wisdom dictates that UFOs and aliens must exist because I both read about and saw something that resembles them. The problem is — if only I looked further into what it is I saw, I’d realize that it was actually just a Starlink satellite train (resulting in: false Wisdom)

What the original equation is fundamentally lacking is Reflection. Enter, the (arguably more effective) updated version:

W ∝ R ( K + E )

What this new equation says is Wisdom is Directly Proportional to Reflection acting on Knowledge plus Experience. Reflection functions as a force multiplier that ultimately creates true Wisdom.

Let’s go back to the UFO example:
K: I read about how UFOs exist (Knowledge)
E: I see strange lights in the sky I cannot explain (Experience)
R: I contemplate on what it is that I saw and then look further into it, realizing it was just a Starlink satellite train (Reflection)
W: I now understand that my initial perception can cloud my overall understanding — not negating the fact that UFOs exist, but respecting the fact that I should be more discerning over what it is that I see (true Wisdom, ie. a universal principle has now been extracted)

Fun fact: Reflection is actually a key component for enhancing the world’s most top-tier operators, the Navy SEALs.

After Action Reports (or AARs) are an essential part of every Navy SEALs’ mission. Whether a mission was successful or not, what matters most is the AAR that they run after the fact in order to enhance their performance and future capabilities.

So why reserve AARs for Navy SEALs alone? You can actually run your own AAR in life after every critical interaction. We learn (Knowledge); we engage with reality (Experience); we run an AAR (Reflect); and then we become better people at the end because of it (we become more Wise).

The real unlock to becoming a more Wise human being doesn’t lie in pairing Knowledge with Experience alone — it lies in Reflecting upon each critical interaction in order to not only learn from it, but become more understanding and better human beings because of it.

-happy AAR’ing.