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wisdom and enlightenment

July 18th, 2005 · 2 Comments

Looking through some old notebooks of mine I came across an interesting distinction between the terms Wisdom and Enlightenment. This is what I have written down:

  • Wisdom is accumulated knowledge (and how to use it)
  • Enlightenment is accumulated thought (and how to use it)

Interesting because in my current story I’ve got a Subjective Story Issue of Enlightenment and was trying to figure out a way to show their relationship conflicting over insight and illumination (the Dramatica Definition terms).

In this new light, I can definitely see the two of them heating up over the different thoughts they have accumulated over the years (and how they see best to use them).

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    2 responses so far ↓

    • 1 Stuart // Feb 12, 2006 at 1:54 am

      Reading an old notebook can provide many surprises. “Enlightenment seems more a coming to widsom, and wisdom, the grace that perhaps only age but certainly broad experience can bring to knowledge and understanding.”

    • 2 Jan Selid // Jul 12, 2007 at 5:08 pm

      Hi James

      I just discovered this website and your contributions to understanding dramatica keeps me coming back. I read the part of Induction vs. Deduction and was enlightened by it, if that’s the right word. Thank you, Sir.

      My wish is that you could expand this article and write in some more examples. Wisdom vs. Enlightenment is still floating in my head - even if this article opened up some doors.

      The problem, for me, is that wisdom vs. enlightenment does not encode as easily to actions or events as it does to dialog.

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